


I Need Another Story

by TheBrightestNight



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-12 08:19:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 44
Words: 324,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7094068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBrightestNight/pseuds/TheBrightestNight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something to get off my chest. • Choices. Consequences. The former are what people usually focus on. However, it's the latter that really matters. Everyone has a choice. Always. No question. It's the consequences that they can't handle. • Victoria Williams has made her choices. Now it's time to face the consequences. With a prophecy or two thrown into the mix, of course.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nothing's Common With Me

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, guys, so I made some decisions and this happened. Here goes nothing. (JK, here goes everything.)
> 
> This is a sequel to my other story in the PJO-verse: It's the Perfect Story. I'm going to try my hardest to make it like a book series, where isn't necessarily required you read the one before it, but it is recommended so you know more about what's going in depth. That aside, shameless self-promotion, I totally recommend you go read it before reading this one.
> 
> To the readers who've read ITPS, this will be taking place along the HOO timeline, but Tori will have a much bigger role to play. Also, it's going to be a tad bit darker than the first story, because of what Tori's gone through, and, well, especially what happened at the end of the last story. That shit doesn't just change you, it messes you up.
> 
> Title and summary taken from OneRepublic's song, "Secrets."
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

_"There is no refuge from memory and remorse in this world. The spirits of our foolish deeds haunt us, with or without repentance." Gilbert Parker_

I was reluctant to go on another rescue mission. Mostly because the past few I'd gone on had almost ended in disaster. Not that they usually didn't, but it almost seemed like the monsters were targeting me specifically. I couldn't fathom why, but it was starting to concern me. Not because I was afraid I was going to die, but because I was afraid the person I was supposed to be rescuing and/or the satyr that accompanied me was going to get hurt or die. The monsters that could talk went on about some kind of…reward or fame for being able to kill me, or somesuch, I wasn't really sure. I was more focused on staying alive than what they were saying, honestly.

"The satyr stationed at that school had to leave for some urgent matter," Mr. D explained. "So another satyr will meet you outside. I expect a report as soon as possible after your return, etc., etc. You know the drill. Go."

I kneeled. "Yes, My Lord." I said before straightening up and heading to the door.

"Oh, and Miss Victoria," Mr. D called as I grasped the handle. I turned to look at him, but kept my hand on the knob. His eyes flashed with purple fire and I swallowed hard. "Don't forget about your swear on the Styx."

I let go of the handle and turned to face Mr. D fully, bowing. "Yes, My Lord." I repeated before heading out, hoping he wouldn't stop me again. Mercifully, he was done.

I probably should explain.

Mr. D was Dionysus, the wine god. He was also our camp director. Our camp, Camp Half-Blood, was a safe place for demigods to reside. The _only_ safe place, really. He was here "monitoring" us because Zeus was punishing him for chasing after a strictly off-limits nymph.

Anyway, you usually didn't need to be so formal with them, but I had to be because that was _my_ punishment. Long story short, I had defied the gods during the Second Titan War and they didn't appreciate that (of course, it's much more complicated than that, but who _really_ wants to get into that right now?). They'd spared me—ha, I say spared—but my punishment was to be Mr. D's…well, I was kind of like a PA. A much more dangerous and deadly PA who carried at least two weapons on me at all times, that is. I had to do whatever he told me to do, and if I disobeyed, he was free to punish me however he liked, like turn me into a dolphin.

But I also knew he was capable of much worse. So I didn't push my luck.

As I left the porch and made my way to the armory to grab a bow and quiver of arrows, I had to wonder why Mr. D had reminded me of my vow. See, I had to swear on the Styx I wouldn't go around blabbing about my punishment to others. I don't know why (it's not like I wanted to anyway), but it was part of my agreement/contract, so I abided. My half-siblings had to abide by that rule as well. They only knew because it was impractical to keep such a big secret from the people I lived with and saw on a regular basis.

I'm a child of Apollo by the way, so I reside in the Apollo cabin when I'm not out running missions or errands Mr. D sends me on. Also, I was excellent at archery and was only getting better and better with all the training and practice I was obtaining through said missions and errands.

My sword and dagger were already in their proper places—sword at my waist, dagger in an ankle sheath. I was fairly good with those weapons as well because I trained hard with them. About as hard as I trained with my bow and arrows.

When I acquired a bow and quiver, I jogged back to Half-Blood Hill. It marked the border that protected this valley from monsters and human eyes. There was a pine tree at the crest with the Golden Fleece hanging from its lowest bough. Normal people had guard dogs. We had a guard dragon who was currently wrapped around the trunk of the tree, snoozing, smoke puffing like his nostrils in the cold night air.

Standing off to the side was a figure—probably the satyr that Mr. D had told me would be accompanying me.

When I finally got to the top I froze in shock.

"Grover," I said in astonishment. He smiled and gave a weak wave. I hadn't seen him in a long time. Not since—well, it doesn't matter; I just hadn't seen him for a while. Or spoken to him, really. And this may or may not have been due to the fact that I had been avoiding him, but that's really not the point. I did, however, realize suddenly why Mr. D had reminded me of my promise.

"Hey, uh…" He stuttered over his words for a moment. "Victoria." He must've heard from someone. Once upon a time, I preferred my nickname, Tori, over my full name. After everything that'd transpired that led to my punishment, I stopped using it. I only allowed certain people to call me by my nickname now. I let my half-siblings do so, because they stood by me, we were family. But they also respected that I didn't exactly like to go by that anymore.

"Are you…coming with me?" I asked.

Grover nodded.

"Shouldn't you be…you know doing Lord of the Wild things?"

"I found a break in my schedule." The satyr shrugged. "Thought I'd…help. For old time's sake."

"You mean the feeling of imminent death?" I was only half-joking. With me around, there was no telling which monster was going to show up and ruin something routine and relatively easy/safe. Or what should be easy/safe.

"Camp's also low on satyrs, what with so many new half-bloods being found and claimed," Grover explained. I wasn't sure that was quite true, but I wasn't going to question him either. We had more pressing matters to attend to currently. We were wasting time chatting.

"Shall we go—?" I broke off on account of a dragon snout nudging me from behind, nearly knocking me over. I turned to face Peleus, who huffed, shooting steams of smoke out his nostrils. I reached up and patted his nose. "Hey, Peleus." He huffed again. "I can't, I've got to go. But, maybe when I get back, okay?"

Peleus snorted and pulled his head away, curling back around the tree again. It was hard to tell, but it looked like he was pouting.

"Come on," I said, turning back to Grover briefly before making my way down the hill. Argus, a guy who looked like your stereotypical surfer dude from California, who also had eyes covering the entirety of his body (he only showed the two where humans had their eyes, most of the time), was waiting by the van that was going to take us into the city and to the school.

Grover quickly caught up with me.

"What was that all about? Do you feed him or something?" he asked.

"No, I…I sing to him," I admitted a little embarrassed. I had nightmares. A lot. "Sometimes, when I can't sleep, I sneak up to the hill and sing. He grew to really like that. He also keeps the harpies away, so I can sit up there as long as I like after curfew."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

We got to the van and I was about to slide in, but paused before turning to face Grover.

"Look, if you don't want to come, I totally understand," I told him. "I know we're not on the best of terms, and we haven't really talked about everything that…um, happened, but I'd understand if you weren't expecting me and want to go back to being Lord of the Wild."

Grover's eyes widened in surprise. "No, that's not—Tori, I don't—" He broke off, noticing my flinch at the use of my nickname. "Uh, in any case, I don't…well, I mean, I don't blame you if that's what you're thinking. I don't think you're a traitor. I don't hate you. In fact, if you'd like, we can be friends."

Oh. A friend. That was such a foreign concept to me these days.

"I'd like that," I finally said. "Thank you." Argus cleared his throat and I looked at him. He tapped his watch. "You're right. We really should be heading." I slid into the van and Grover followed suit. As Argus drove, I started to undo my hair from its Dutch braid that started on the left side of my head and went diagonally across the back of my head to rest over my right shoulder. I used this hairstyle when I was at camp. When I was on missions, I put it into a milkmaid braid.

I used to have a pixie-cut, but, once again, after everything that transpired after the Second Titan War, I grew it out. Long before that, I had had it long, but then decided to shear it all off. Now, I'd decided to grow it out again. I put it into a milkmaid braid because that provided the monsters less to grab onto during a fight, less to get caught on something, etc.

Two of the Aphrodite kids, Mitchell and Lacy, had helped me…on the sly. When it came to doing hair and make-up I was at a total loss. However, the head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, Drew, had instructed the rest of the cabin that I was Public Enemy #1—also because of the events that transpired during the war—and that meant they weren't allowed to interact with me. Ever.

Mitchell and Lacy were nicer than most children of Aphrodite, they'd given me a chance to explain my circumstances, tell them my side of the story. So when I'd gone to them for some hair help, they gave me instructions without Drew's knowledge and I practiced until I had mastered doing my own hair.

"I mean," Grover started, breaking the silence. I looked over at him as I finished up the braid—having done it so many times, I could put it up into either of those two braids in no time flat. "I've just had a lot of time to think about the events surrounding the Titan War and your…um, situation. And I just, well, I can't…" His voice lowered to a whisper and I stiffened. "I can't even begin to imagine losing Juniper." Juniper was his girlfriend, a nymph.

Grover was silent for a moment. My heart beat irregularly. My demons rattled in their cage, and I became painfully aware of the ache in my chest. I had managed to block it out until now. I didn't know how to respond, or even if I _could_. I was afraid if I tried to say anything, I would break.

"Oh gods, I'm sorry!" Grover yelped, looking over at me wide-eyed. "That's probably not helping is it? I was trying to—oh, forget it." He looked away.

I took a quiet, shaky breath. I swallowed hard and squeezed my eyes shut for a long moment. "It's okay." I managed to choke out. "I'm just glad that I have someone I can call a friend again."

He looked back at me with skepticism in his eyes, but I tried for a small smile. I'm not sure what I managed, but Grover didn't say anything more. The rest of the ride was quiet.

We were going to extract the demigod during one of his high school's dances. His name was Ivan. The satyr that'd been there scouting out the place had confirmed he was attending the dance before having to leave. In other cases, that might be the perfect setup. Everyone would be too busy with the dance and their friends to notice someone leaving. If they had friends, they could easily explain why they're leaving. At something like a dance, it'd be natural for someone to leave whenever they wanted for whatever reason.

For me, however, it was probably the worst possible scenario. The loud music, the lights, all the people—too many things to keep track of. Adding monsters into the mix really didn't help. Usually, with an extraction, monsters didn't show up because we've managed to get to them before the monsters. If they do, it's not many. Seeing as most of these missions I'd gone on had monsters swarming, I had a bad feeling this mission was going to be no different.

I snuck a peak over at Grover. Had he heard the rumors about my latest missions? Did he know just how dangerous this was going to be?

The car stopped in front of the building. It had a large façade, with stone steps that led up to the large, wooden double doors that were surrounded by red bricks. Windows sat above the doors, perfectly spaced from them and from each other.

Grover opened the car door and coughed, cringing back into his seat.

"Monsters," he said.

I was out of the car in a split second, meeting Argus's eyes as I flew out of my seat. I slammed the door behind me and made it to the sidewalk as Grover slammed his door close.

"We have to hurry, then," I said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him up the stairs.

"Whoa, wait," Grover protested, pulling me back. It startled me how strong he was, but I quickly got over my stumble and continued to pull him up the stairs. "I just wasn't ready for it, that's all. Monsters are common on these missions. You know that."

I pulled him with more force. "Nothing's common with me." He hadn't heard anything about my predicament, then.

We burst through the doors and Grover got his footing, meeting my stride. I let go of his wrist.

"This way!" I turned down a hallway lined with lockers.

"You know where the gym is?" Grover asked.

"No, I'm following the sound of the music," I told him pointing to the left to signal a turn down another hallway. The pounding of the bass from the music was getting louder and louder with every step. We were close.

Another two turns and we finally came to the gym. There was an adult standing at the entrance as we came up. He looked at us suspiciously with a raised eyebrow. Couldn't blame him, two obviously-not-teens he didn't recognize, appearing in the middle of a high school dance, breathless _sounded_ suspicious.

I walked up to the man without hesitation. "We're looking for our son"—Grover made a choking noise from behind me but I continued on—"there's been a minor family emergency. We'll go find him." I tried to edge my way past the man, but he held out his arm, blocking my way into the gym.

"I'm going to need to see some ID," he said.

"Sir, please—" Grover tried, but I held out a hand, looking back at him and slightly shaking my head before turning back to the man. I met his eyes and snapped my fingers, a small breeze blowing past our little group of three.

"Oh, don't you remember? I've already shown them to you," I said.

The man blinked, his eyes glazing over for a moment before he blinked again, hard, and his eyes cleared. "You're right. Head on in."

"Thank you," I smiled and started in, looking back and making a small gesture with my hand telling Grover to follow.

We stuck close to the wall. I scanned the darkened room for monsters. I needed to know where they were as a precaution. When I found Ivan, I would know best how to defend him and ourselves while getting to him and getting him out. They were mixed into the crowd, at least a dozen of them— _dracaenae_ and _empousai_. So far. The _empousai_ were better at blending in with the dancing teens.

"How are we going to find him in here?" Grover yelled over the music, looking over at me. I turned my head to look at him, but kept one eye on the dancefloor.

"Judging by the way he dresses and holds himself, he's not very social," I explained, scanning the room, only for Ivan this time. "Probably quiet, probably not very outgoing. Most likely because of his ADHD and dyslexia. So, at a dance, he'll probably be somewhere…on…the…outskirts—there!" I pointed. "You see him?"

Grover looked to where I was pointing and squinted. After a small moment he shook his head, turning back to me. "The lights are too disorienting, you sure that's Ivan?"

I grabbed his wrist again. "Definitely sure." Grover opened his mouth to say something, but I yanked him forward and started pulling him around the crowd, toward Ivan and his small group of friends, keeping my eyes locked on the boy. He was tall and lanky. It was too dark to tell, but I knew from the photograph that he had short dark brown hair, light brown eyes, and light brown skin.

He and his friends were dancing together, smiling and laughing. A wave of guilt washed over me and I suddenly felt bad that I was going to be taking his life away from him. At the very least, making it a hundred times more dangerous, because there were some of us who went back into the mortal world after summer. Those of us who still had families and lives to go back to, that is.

When I glanced back at Grover, he was giving me a strange look, so I stayed on him, feeling insulted.

"What?" I yelled over the music, which was getting louder as we got closer to Ivan's group, and closer to the speakers.

"How did you do that?" Grover yelled back. We'd slowed slightly, but I moved my gaze back to Ivan.

"Do what?"

"You knew where he'd be," Grover clarified. "Satyrs usually do the scouting."

I shook my head and answered, "Mr. D only showed me what he looked like, a photograph."

We were almost there. I did a sweep of the crowd. The monsters were in about the same spots as I'd last seen them, but I could tell they were paying attention to me—at least that's what it felt like. What were they waiting for?

Grover's eyes widened. "You got that all from a _photograph_?"

"I've had to learn to read people at a glance," I explained off-handedly, paying more attention to Ivan than to Grover. We'd finally reached the group. Grover and I stood a little ways away from their group, close to the walls.

"How do you think we should get his attention?" Grover asked.

I looked back at the crowd. The monsters were moving now, trying to make their way toward Ivan. It was like I'd stepped on some kind of trigger, causing them to start moving.

"No time, might as well be direct," I said, going over to Ivan, grabbing his arm and pulling him away.

"Hey!" He exclaimed. His other friends stopped dancing, too and started objecting, getting after me for barging in, but I silenced them with a look.

Ivan ripped his arm from my grip, giving me a look that was between something that said, "You're crazy!" and anger. I opened my mouth to tell him what I was doing but, without a word, he turned away and started to return to his group, which had moved a few feet away from us.

I reached out and gripped his wrist. He turned back to me, to probably yell at me, but when he met my eyes he froze.

"I don't have time to explain," I yelled, looking out the corners of my eyes. The monsters were getting closer. They were still a little stuck in the crowd, but it was clear they were forming a semi-circle to surround us and back us up against the wall. The closest _empousa_ was smirking wickedly. "We have to get you out of here _right now_. You're life's in danger."

Ivan swallowed hard. He looked stricken.

I felt a tug on my t-shirt and I risked a look. Grover was pulling on the hem of my sleeve. He pointed to the crowd. The first _empousa_  was just breaking through the wall of teens.

Ivan also looked. His eyes got wider and his head snapped back to me.

"You see them, too?"

I wanted to explain, but the _empousa_ was heading straight for us at an alarming speed. "Grover, come on!" I pulled Ivan even closer to the speakers. His group of friends tried to follow, but Grover cut them off as he took up the rear and we pushed our way through to where the DJ was stationed.

"How is this supposed to help? There's no way out!" Grover yelled. His voice sounded like it was coming from under water the music was so loud. My heart beat off tempo against the rhythm of the bass. It was disorienting, but also…exhilarating. I'd missed dances.

I turned toward the DJ, ignoring Grover's question. It would take too long to explain. I waved a hand to grab her attention. She removed one side of her headphones and leaned down toward me. I leaned up to make things a little easier.

"I'd like to request a song!"

When I turned back toward the group, I looked through the crowd. The monsters had gone back into the crowd. They were interspersed throughout, but no doubt they were trying to surround us again.

"That song you requested better be amazing, because if not, I don't think we're going to make it out of here." Grover yelled.

The song started and I held my breath. There was no guarantee it would work, but going on missions and running errands for Mr. D meant I got to be out in the real world much more than I used to. Which also meant, I was exposed to a lot more pop culture. From what I gathered, it should, in theory, work. Also, at the time, with limited resources, it was the best I could think of. I wasn't about to endanger a large group full of innocents by starting a fight.

"This is our saving grace?" Ivan asked, looking down at me with an incredulous look. "How is this bubble-gum pop song supposed to save our lives?"

"When I say run, you run to your left. Do you understand?" I asked ignoring Ivan's questions. When neither Ivan nor Grover answered, I looked back and forth at them. The song was almost at the chorus. " _Do you understand?_ "

In front of us, girls were singing along with the lyrics and swaying to the music. They looked excited, which was encouraging. The boys weren't as enthusiastic, but they stayed in the throng. Also encouraging.

Ivan and Grover nodded. I nodded once and said, "Good." to myself watching the pulsing crowd. My heartrate started pounding as the chorus hit. I let out a relived breath as nearly everyone started jumping up and down, throwing their arms up and twisting their bodies around as they did.

" _Run!_ "

We ran to our left and skirted around the crowd. As we neared the door, I glanced behind me to see the monsters struggling to push through the jumping mass of adolescents, and not succeeding. An _empousa_ who was getting pushed and shoved around met my eyes across the room and I smirked.

The three of us raced past the adult at the door and into the hallway. Grover at the lead, Ivan behind him, and me, taking up the rear.

"Ivan!" a girl's voice rang through the hall. We all stopped and turned to look. I almost pulled my bow and arrow, but managed to restrain myself. It was his friends. I'd completely forgotten about them. Of course they'd think it suspicious that two strangers show up and pull their friend away from them.

"Family emergency, I've got to get going!" Ivan explained as we backed up toward a crossroads in the hallway.

His friends followed. I backed up to stand next to Ivan.

"Get rid of them, they could get hurt. We don't have much time." I told him quietly.

"I'll explain everything tomorrow—" I grabbed his wrist. He looked at me as I looked at him. I shook my head. I saw his chest rise as he inhaled sharply. Blinking rapidly, he turned to face his friends again. "I'll…I'll explain everything later, okay. I-I really have to go. It's pretty serious. Go back in. Enjoy the rest of the night!" Ivan gave them an easy smile and I was impressed he was able, seeing as this was all new to him, and he was probably terrified out of his mind right now.

His friends looked unsure, but they reluctantly started to make their way back inside. The girl, the one who'd called his name loitered.

"Really, enjoy the night. I'll update you as soon as I can. I promise," Ivan said, his smile dropping. I had to wonder what his connection to the girl was. Best friend? Partner?

"…okay," she said. "I hope your family is all right. Good night, Ivan."

"Good night, Violet," Ivan responded.

Once Violet had turned away from us, we spun and started running again. We had only made it down one hallway when the baying of hellhounds echoed through the halls.

My heart skipped a few beats before jumping into my throat. I readied my bow and an arrow, gripping them tightly and swallowing down the panic that threatened to engulf me. My mom had been killed by a hellhound, ripped open and left to bleed out. I had been there, watched it happen, helpless. When it had finished with my mom, it had attacked me, leaving large, jagged scars on the back of my left arm and across my whole left shoulder.

"We have to move faster." I tried not to sound desperate or gasp. Ivan was looking to us for calm, so I had to stay calm.

How had the monsters known to show up here? Was someone informing them? How else could they have known? My blood ran cold. Did that mean there was another spy at camp? I nearly stumbled.

"Hey, you okay?" Grover asked, looking over at me with concerned eyes.

I gripped my bow and arrow even harder. "I'm fine."

I took a deep breath and swallowed hard. No, I couldn't afford to think like that. At least, not think about it now. I needed to focus, because I needed to get this demigod back to camp _alive_.

As we passed through a hallway, I thought I heard the sounds of claws on linoleum floors, howling of hellhounds as they closed in.

"Ivan, change of plan, lead us around in circles and then find a place we can hide," I explained.

Ivan looked over at me like I was crazy. "What?"

"I'm with him," Grover chimed in.

"Take a left," Ivan instructed.

"The hellhounds are going to sniff us out, surround us," I explained as we ran. "They've probably got a group that'll sneak up behind us. We have to lead them on a goose chase. When we hide, I can pick the monsters that come by who are following our scent."

"I don't understand, why all these monsters?" Ivan questioned, sounding a bit winded. "Did I do something I don't know? Go right."

I shook my head, trying not to feel guilty. Ivan _was_ going to make it out of this. "It's not your fault." I said, maybe a little too quietly.

Ivan didn't say more other than instructions. Finally, when Grover said we should be good, at least long enough to take out some of the monsters, we broke into a classroom and hid. Grover and Ivan went further into the room, behind me. I stayed at the door, keeping it open enough I could see into the hall and fit an arrow through it.

After an indiscriminate amount of time, "How…how long are we going to be in here?" Ivan asked in a whisper.

"Shh," I scolded as I raised my bow and arrow. A hellhound was sniffing around the area. I just needed a good headshot. It continued sniffing the air, slowly edging forward, past our door. Just a few more steps…gotcha! I pulled my arrow back. The sound of the string being pulled taught alerted the demon dog and it turned its head, red eyes meeting my brown ones. The hellhound pulled its lips back, a snarl building in its chest.

I let my arrow fly.

* * *

 **All right, all right! There you have it! First chapter down! And just like last time, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. (Okay, so maybe not…** _**completely** _ **true. I know where this is going, I just don't know how to get there while divulging the information I want to at the same time. I've been seriously struggling. Anyway—)**

 **I'm on summer break right now, so updates** _**shouldn't** _ **be weeks or months at a time. I am working full-time, however, but, we'll see, if I can organize my ideas well enough that I may be able to start a posting schedule. (Because I have SO. MANY. IDEAS. And I** _**cannot wait** _ **until you read them!)**

**Besides which, it adds an element of surprise! So, I hope ya'll join me in the next chapter of Tori's life!**

**Thank you for reading,  
** **TheBrightestNight**


	2. It's Not That Simple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look! Another chapter. (I'm just really excited about this story, can you tell?)
> 
> As always, hope you enjoy!

"So you're a daughter of Apollo?" Ivan asked me. I looked at him, confused at his question. My mind had been so focused on picking off monsters—five so far—that it was hard to bring it back to normal things, like…conversation.

"I was explaining what he is, what's going on, why the monsters," Grover told me quietly.

"Yeah," I muttered, peeking back out of the door. Ivan was silent for a while so I finally looked back at him.

"You're not very tan," he commented.

I felt offended for some reason. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh, guys, maybe not now—" Grover started, but Ivan interrupted him.

"Well, I figure that if you're a child of the sun god, you'd like the sun. You know be out in the sun a lot. So you'd be really tan. But you don't look tan. I mean, you're definitely not white, but you're not, like, _tan_ -tan, either."

I tried to stifle my eye-roll as I peeked out through the door again. "I spend most of my time in the Underworld," I told him in a monotone as I slowly, silently raised my bow and arrow. Another hellhound had shown up. I was about to dust the monster when a _dracaena_ came into view, as well. I swore in my head and lowered my bow and arrow, quickly pulling another arrow from my quiver.

I had to open the door wider to get my shot. The _dracaena_ 's armor clattered to the floor.

"We should try and go," I told Ivan and Grover, pulling back into the room. "I don't hear anymore hellhounds. Can you lead us to the exit?" This question was directed at Ivan.

"Of course."

"Stay behind me. Grover, take up the rear," I instructed. "Move quickly and quietly."

They both nodded and I opened the door, looking up and down the hall, my bow and arrow down but ready to be raised. We moved through the hallways with much more control than before. The only sound was our quiet breathing and footsteps. It was starting to concern me. I'd only taken out seven monsters. There had been more than that in the gym, and that wasn't including the hellhounds. Where were they? Were they waiting for something again? If so, what was the trigger?

We turned down another hallway and there were the doors, at the end of the hall. I would've felt relieved, seeing as we'd made it unscathed, except it seemed too easy. There were at least 8 monsters left, why hadn't they attacked us? Our scent trails were all over the school, sure, but that wouldn't lead them in the wrong direction for long. It had to be stronger in some places then others. Most monsters weren't the brightest of the lot, but they weren't idiots, either.

My heart was racing as we got nearer and nearer to the door. I constantly looked around the hallway, listening for the sound of pursuit, anything that would signal an attack or ambush. When we got to the doors, I signaled for Ivan and Grover to stop. Keeping my bow and arrow in one hand, I went up and pulled both doors open.

I had a split second to think. It was like something snapped and adrenaline shot into my veins. My ADHD kicked in. In that split second, I saw before me the hulking beast of Chimera—a large monster with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and a tail that was a deadly diamondback rattlesnake at least ten feet long. Its mane was caked with blood.

It roared before leveling its eyes at me. It opened its mouth and I saw the spark of a small flame in the back of its throat.

I dropped my bow and arrow, raced toward Ivan and Grover, and shoved them against the wall just as a column of flame blew past us. The heat on my back blistered my skin. I gritted my teeth so as to not cry out. I'd experienced worse pain.

"Get Ivan to the car and wait there. I'll distract ugly," I told Grover, stepping back and unsheathing my sword.

No sooner had I faced Chimera did I have to tuck and roll away from its snake as it lunged at me, jaws snapping. My whole back blazed with acid pain, but I pushed the pain down and tried to focus on everything else around me, become hyperaware.

I swung my sword at the snake's head as I stood, but it pulled away too quickly. I managed make a gash in the side Chimera's body, though. The monster didn't like that.

I ducked and rolled again (my back protesting), before it could retaliate, closer to the monster and swung my sword at its legs, forcing it to back up. I needed to get it out of the doorway if Grover and Ivan were going to be able to sneak past.

The Chimera reared back, roaring loudly. I used this opportunity to jab my sword up into its massive goat chest. It roared again, but retreated even further. I quickly jumped back, out of the way.

I turned toward Ivan and Grover, who'd been standing behind me, looking for an opening. "Go, _now!_ I'll be there in a minute!"

When the Chimera's roar died down, it started yelping and shaking its head. It kept rearing up, trying to get the sword. Ivan and Grover sprinted past me and skirted around the Chimera. The car was waiting at the curb, unlocked (Mist kept mortals from stealing it), keys in the visor. Argus had gone back to camp.

I'd learned how to drive a while ago, and having a getaway car made things easier. Not necessarily safer, but definitely easier on these types of missions. Especially because of what had happened during my previous missions and all the monsters that had shown up during those, too.

The sound of a sword clattering to the ground grabbed my attention and I looked back at Chimera. It had finally managed to dislodge my sword. It met my eyes, hate burning in its own. Chimera opened its mouth and I dove to the side as another column of fire lit up the night.

I struggled to get to my feet while keeping an eye on the monster. My back was seriously starting to bother me now. It was getting harder and harder to ignore the pain. My vision started blurring occasionally, my head swimming.

Nevertheless, I forced myself to stand and face the monster. It was facing me, lips pulled back over its razor-sharp teeth. Its snake tail was also focused me, fangs bared. But it was waiting.

I swayed, wondering why it was waiting. I had been an easy target. Still was.

My answer came when a woman laughed to my left. Blinking away the haze around the edges of my vision I looked, keeping my senses open to Chimera as much as I could. At first, I was confused as who, or maybe _what_ , I was looking at. It may have been my blurry vision or the Mist, but at first I saw a large woman in a denim dress.

I blinked and her form changed. She still had a human head, but her skin was scaly and had a greenish tint. Her eyes were a bright, unnatural green. Was it just me or did a forked tongue just shoot out from between her lips? If I wasn't hallucinating because of pain, and if memory served, this was Echidna, the mother of Chimera. Which would explain why Chimera wasn't trying to rip me to shreds currently. She must have given her child a silent order not to attack.

I was, however, 100% sure she was laughing at me, mocking me. For what reason was unbeknownst to me.

"What do you want?" I managed. For now, it seemed she was enjoying toying with me. She wasn't going to have Chimera kill me. Yet.

"I'm sure you know already, deary," she sneered, showing some of her fangs instead of teeth.

I swayed again and stumbled trying to regain my balance. I shook my head, trying to clear it. Gods, this wasn't looking good. I should've prepared better, taken a baggie of ambrosia with me or a small canteen of nectar.

"The reward," I finally said, "for killing me." Echidna smiled wider, her green eyes flashing and forked tongue flicking. "Why?" I asked this when I could, hoping they might give me something to work off of. Usually, they didn't answer, or they gave me some vague shit. Nothing I could use.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Echidna answered. I tensed, my eyes going back to Chimera whose back leg muscles flexed. I prepared myself mentally and took a deep breath before Chimera lunged at me. I jumped and rolled out of the way, coming up just in time to see the snake flying toward me, like a bullet.

I narrowly managed to avoid its venomous fangs by jerking to my right.

Echidna laughed again.

"Just give up, deary," she taunted. "Make things easier for all of us. You've lost your weapon!" Sure enough my sword was lying on the steps behind Chimera. Echidna continued, "And don't think that pathetic little dagger at your ankle is going to beat my beautiful child."

A jolt ran through me and I nearly became snake food. I jumped to my right again, but went tumbling down some steps. Nothing broken from what I could tell, but now my back wasn't the only thing pulsing with pain. I steadied myself between two steps, but crouched so I could more easily lunge away.

How had Echidna known about my dagger? I kept it in its ankle sheath for the specific purpose of keeping it hidden. It had come in handy in the past, they never really thought to look there, giving me at least one weapon to protect myself with (I'd played prisoner a lot during one of the years leading up to the war, I hate to admit). Now, it looked like keeping it a secret from monsters was no longer an option.

Echidna grinned wickedly at me. "Oh, yes, little demigod, I know about your dagger at your ankle. You wouldn't believe how fast word travels in the monster realm."

I snorted. "I didn't realize monsters gossiped." Echidna rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to respond, probably, but I continued. "And you're wrong. I do have my sword."

Echidna's smirk melted as her green eyes darted back and forth between me and my sword that was still lying behind Chimera. Her eyes narrowed.

"You're joking," Echidna hissed.

It was my turn to smirk, despite the pain pulsing throughout my body. I held out my hand and focused on my sword. The hilt flew into my hand and my eyes went back to Echidna briefly. Then I had to focus my full attention on Chimera because the monster jumped at me again, growling.

I rolled even further down the steps, but since I was prepared, I didn't hurt myself more than I already had. Though, it did make the wounds and bruises I had incurred flare up. My head felt light, like it was trying to pull itself from my shoulders.

Gritting my teeth I forced the vertigo down, and myself to stand up straight and swing at the monster. I managed to get a good cut on its side. The snake shot toward me again. I stepped back, instead of moving to the side, and swung my sword in an arch, decapitating the head.

Echidna shrieked in anger as Chimera roared with anger and pain. I capitalized on this moment to run up the steps, closer to Chimera and swung my sword again, with all my might, easily slicing through one of its legs. I didn't hesitate and swung again, removing the other front leg.

Chimera stumbled back as much as it could without two front feet before finally collapsing and crumbling into dust. Paying Echidna no mind, I sheathed my sword, ignored the pain radiating through my body, and sprinted down the steps to the car. I launched myself onto the hood and slid across it to get to the driver's side faster. My body protested vehemently, but I ignored this and jumped into the seat, grabbing the keys and jamming them into the ignition.

"Here, before we go," Grover said, shoving a canteen at me. I wanted to tell him I didn't have time, but my vision blurred so badly I swear I almost blacked out. I quickly grabbed the canteen and took a swig. Immediately the bruises vanished and my vision cleared. My back was still in some slight pain, but felt more like a bad sunburn than serious third-degree burns from actual fire.

I threw the canteen back at Grover and started the car. I glanced out the window of the passenger's seat to see the dust swirling around on the steps. Instead of looking murderously angry, Echidna was smirking again.

It felt like someone had just rammed a chisel into my chest. Something was off. Why was she smug? I had just killed her child.

Ivan shifted in the back of the van and I remembered what I was here for. Chimera was incapacitated at the moment so now was the perfect time to get away. I would have to think about this later.

"Seatbelts," I said before pulling out and slamming my foot on the gas.

"Tori," Grover said in a tense voice. I flinched. "Maybe we could drive a little slower. We got away."

"No, something's wrong," I said, pressing even harder on the gas pedal. "Did you see the look on Echidna's face? She wasn't upset at all that I'd just killed her child. The dust was swirling on the steps. Maybe Chimera was reforming."

"Right there? On the steps? That's…impossible," Grover stuttered.

"Wait, I thought monsters were supposed to go to Tartarus and not reform for a while," Ivan chimed in, finally sounding freaked out. I glanced at him through the rearview mirror briefly. He was cracking. I couldn't blame him, though. Seeing such a terrifying beast as your first introduction to the demigod world would do that to anyone.

"They're not," Grover and I said at the same time. I turned my attention back to the road. As soon as we were out of the city and on the highway toward camp, I sped up even more.

It was silent in the car as we raced down the quiet road in the dead of night, but I could feel Grover's eyes on me. I shot him a quick look through the corners of my eyes. His eyes were steady and firm.

Ever since the Titan War, he'd grown so much more confident. And, I mean, I'm sure being the Lord of the Wild helped with that, too.

" _What?_ " I finally asked, maybe a little too harshly. He was probably my only real…friend right now. My half-siblings didn't count, because they were my half-siblings. All the other cabins didn't like me because during the Titan war, I'd become a prisoner on Luke Castellan's monster-infested ship because I'd gone to try and convince him to come back to the gods's side.

Luke was another demigod, son of Hermes. He'd been trying to help Kronos, the titan, rise again and dethrone the gods. He almost succeeded too…

We were a thing. Well, more than just a thing, but…it was just too painful to think about him for too long.

When Luke realized that he couldn't live without me, I was no longer a prisoner. I actually helped him in his mission, as much as I am ashamed to admit. I stayed because I loved him and I had promised not to leave him. I stayed, because after I'd died, I became the only thing keeping Kronos's goal alive. I had tried to convince Luke to let me go, but he wouldn't and I couldn't get myself to leave him.

Long story, short: the whole of Camp Half-Blood thought I was a traitor for two years.

And now, well, they still didn't trust me. Did I blame them? Not exactly. But they also didn't know I _still_ couldn't look myself in the mirror. It had been at least 3 or 4 years since I'd faced myself in a mirror. As the days passed, it became harder.

Anyway, I probably shouldn't have been addressing my only friend so harshly.

Grover sighed heavily and I looked over at him just in time to see him roll his eyes. "'I spend most of my time in the Underworld,'" he quoted. "Really?"

I looked back and forth between him and road, my expression incredulous. "Really? Now? You want to discuss this _now_?" Then I was offended. "And it's _not_ untrue!"

"Maybe you _have_ been hanging out in the Underworld too much. You should try the living again."

"Well, it's not like I can just—" I broke off, catching myself before making a big mistake.

"Not like you can just, what?" Grover asked, looking at me with narrowed eyes.

I swallowed hard and looked back at the road, keeping my gaze locked there.

"Nothing," I mumbled quickly, gripping the steering wheel. I peeked at Grover who was looking at me exasperated. "I'll…try harder next time. Maybe you can give me lessons."

I could tell Grover wasn't finished, but he didn't push. I mentally let out a breath. That was too close. I'd have to be more careful next time. Usually no one questioned my disappearing act (trips to the Underworld) because they didn't care. It seemed Grover had been keeping closer tabs on me than I realized.

As we got closer to camp, I expected my body to relax, even a little bit. However, Echidna's expression was still bothering me. The only reason she should be smug after I had just dusted her child was that Chimera wasn't actually dead. If that was case, and Echidna seemed to _really_ want that reward, then that meant Chimera would be making a reappearance. Soon.

We just a few more miles until we got to camp, though. That was all…

The closer we got to camp, the more foreboding the atmosphere became. It pressed against my chest. The metal of the vehicle seemed to be pressing in on me. I was finding it harder and harder to breathe.

"Hey, are you okay?" Grover asked, reaching over and putting a hand on my arm. I instinctively jerked away. Grover retracted his hand. "I'm sorry."

I looked at him through the corners of my eyes, but I couldn't meet his gaze for long.

"No, it's fine," I muttered, shifting uncomfortably. "And…I'm fine. I'll-I'll be fine."

"You'll _be_ fine?" Grover questioned.

"Just…not now, please." I was never fine anymore. Explaining the intricacies of having to deal with the loss of a loved one and becoming a god's servant would take too long to explain, if I was even allowed to talk about it to anyone other than my siblings.

I gripped the steering wheel. "We're almost there." I said, mostly to myself.

When I could see Thalia's pine tree in the distance, something caught my eye in the rearview mirror. Chimera was back.

I'd never seen a monster run so fast before. It was frightening, to be completely honest.

"What do we do now?" Ivan asked, panic lacing his voice.

I paused, trying to think of the best option. Clearly, this had nothing to do with Ivan or Grover. Chimera and Echidna were after me.

"Okay, here's what I'm going to do. I need you to listen carefully," I said slowly and concisely. They both nodded and I explained my plan. I just hoped they would both be okay afterward.

A few yards away from Half-Blood Hill, I slowed down to about 30 miles per hour and as we passed Grover and Ivan jumped from the van. Then I gassed it, speeding up so fast with enough force that the doors slammed closed.

As I suspected, Chimera ran right past Grover and Ivan, following me. I looked at the monster through the rearview mirror, it getting closer and closer. Slowing down for that small moment had allowed it catch up to me.

I hadn't thought this plan through as much as I made Grover and Ivan believe—I knew they wouldn't have left me otherwise. All I had wanted was to get them away from the dangerous monster. For now, I was going to keep driving until I could figure out a plan to dust Chimera (again, apparently) and at least _try_ to return to camp.

My brainstorming was interrupted when Chimera leaped forward suddenly, landing on the car. I swerved and had to grasp the steering wheel with both hands to keep control. My heart felt about ready to give out. That had been jolting and nothing like I'd ever experienced before.

I jumped in my seat and looked frantically at the roof of the van as Chimera pounced on it with its front paws—I'm assuming. I fought the urge to hold my hands on my ears when it raked its claws across the metal. I didn't think swerving more would get it off. Honestly it would probably cause me to crash, but I did know a little about Newton's Laws of Motion.

Hoping that Chimera wouldn't jolt the van for a few seconds, I took one hand off the steering wheel and buckled my seatbelt. I drove for a few more seconds, bracing myself, and then hit the brake pedal. The seatbelt locked as I was jerked forward. Pain rippled through me from my collar bone, exasperating the burning in my back. My head felt like it'd gained a thousand tons of weight.

Like I had hoped, however, Chimera went flying off the roof of the van and landed on the road, skidding a few feet in front of me. Keep my seatbelt on, I shifted the van into reverse before shifting into drive and hitting Chimera before it could recuperate. I did this until Chimera crumbled to dust. Then I turned the van around and headed back to Half-Blood Hill. I didn't have time to wonder about Echidna, I had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment.

To my utter shock and surprise Grover and Ivan were struggling to get up to Thalia's pine tree. Grover had Ivan's arm slung over his shoulder and they were stumbling. Had it really not taken that long?

I stopped on the side of the road, unbuckled my seatbelt and quickly got out, unsheathing my sword. It felt heavy in my hand, but I ignored that and forced my arm to hold it up. As I made my way toward the two, I was on high alert for other monsters, or Chimera again. Considering it had reformed so quickly, there was a likely possibility that Chimera would make a reappearance before we made it across the border.

"What's wrong? Are you guys all right?" I asked as I came up to them.

"Ivan got hurt jumping out of the car," Grover explained. "I think it's his right arm."

I wanted to help, to put Ivan's other arm over my shoulders and get him and Grover across the border quicker, but I was worried that I would only injure Ivan more.

"Don't you have your nectar?" I asked.

"I already gave him the rest," Grover explained. "It was really bad before."

I cursed silently. I _really_ should've prepared more. You'd think, having been on these missions, I'd know what I needed to take. It was moments like these that left me feeling utterly helpless, like that fourteen-year-old who couldn't do anything but watch in horror as her mom was ripped to shreds by a hellhound.

You'd also think, being the daughter of the medicine god, I'd be able to help heal Ivan. You'd be correct, our cabin had healing abilities. I was special. I couldn't access that power to heal others. I attributed this to the fact that I hated Apollo with all my being. See, my mom had cried out for his help in her last few minutes of life. I found out a few years ago Apollo had heard and done nothing. I'd hated him before I'd found that little gem, but now? I absolutely _loathed_ him.

So, I gripped the hilt of my sword and continued to watch for dangers. I had a bad feeling Chimera was going to reform and be back any minute. I needed Grover and Ivan over that border or they could possibly become collateral damage.

I should've expected a monster that could run so fast could also be as silent as a mouse, despite its size.

The only thing that told me we were in danger was a sudden chill that ran down my spine. I looked over my shoulder to see the head of a diamondback flying toward Ivan and Grover with its fangs bared.

I didn't have time to warn them or swing my sword, I was on the complete opposite side of where the snake was attacking. Swinging my sword might chop off the head of the snake, sure, but it also might chop some other heads that I really _didn't_ want to chop off.

Instead, I tackled them to the ground. Ivan cried out in pain. I let out a yelp as the snake sunk its fangs into my side.

The effect of the venom was immediate. My side exploded with burning pain, which spread outward like someone had lit a fire inside my veins. It was making its way slowly through my body, burning away my blood.

My head spun and my vision blurred. People were moving, jostling me, but I was barely aware of them. Someone was calling my name, my nickname.

"…go," I managed, though I'm not sure how coherent it was.

Grover's voice came through all of a sudden, as if I'd just been pulled out from being underwater. The pain intensified, but all my senses lit up like a Christmas tree and I was hyperaware of everything around me. The grass of the hill beneath me, the cool night breeze doing nothing to relieve the burning inside me, two sets of breathing (one heavier and more pained than the other), the low growl of the Chimera somewhere in front of me, but slightly to the right.

"Tori—" Grover tried. He was kneeling in front of me. I lifted my head and glared at him.

" _Go_ ," I growled. "Ivan is priority." When Grover didn't budge, I dropped my glare. "Please, Grover."

Something in my voice, my expression jolted him. Swallowing hard, his eyes crystalizing with determination, Grover stood and clopped out of my sight. I assumed it was to get Ivan. I let my head fall back onto the grass and let out a small breath, closing my eyes, embracing the fire.

Something prodded my shoulder before turning me over onto my back. I gritted my teeth and groaned in pain, but I was too exhausted, too much in agony to really do much more.

I forced my eyes open and at first, my vision was too blurry to make out what was going on. When it finally cleared I realized Chimera was leaning over me now. Its lion head was so close to me I could smell its foul breath mixed with the smell of the dried blood in its mane. My stomach churned and I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing the nausea back down my throat.

Despite how I felt, I summoned my sword back into my hand and gripped the hilt. I opened my eyes again, tensing my arm to stab the Chimera. Before I could even lift my arm, Chimera pounced, moving its paws onto my arms, holding them down, putting so much pressure on them because of its weight, I thought for sure they'd break.

I tried to hold onto my sword, but it then sunk its claws into my arms. I let out a cry, my back arching, and finally let go of my sword. I sunk back to the ground, breathing hard and raggedly. The grass rustled to my left.

"What do you want?" I asked in a shaky whisper, shifting uncomfortably. Where Chimera's claws punctured my arms pulsed in an odd and painful way. I looked out of the corners of my eyes at Echidna. She was smiling down at me, her green snake eyes making her look all the more smug and sinister. Her forked tongue flicked out between her lips.

"You should know," Echidna mocked, her voice lilting, almost sing-song. "We just went over this. A reward."

I shook my head. Darkness was closing in on the edges of my vision. "No," I choked. "It's not that simple." I swallowed hard. My head was pounding. The burning of the venom was spreading across my stomach, down my right leg, up my right arm. My back was now burning like when I'd first received the wound.

"I've killed plenty of your kind, but so have other demigods," I whispered, fighting off the blackness that was slowly but steadily eating at my vision. "Why am I so important? What's so special about me? Surely…other demigods…with more powerful parents are worth more…than me." I swallowed hard again and shifted, the claws still in my skin becoming almost unbearable. They were taking up all my mental capacity, slowly becoming the only thing my brain could think about.

"It has to do with your… _child_ , doesn't it?" I asked just above a whisper. "I've…never seen a monster reform…so fast."

"I didn't think someone who was dying could be so observant," Echidna commented.

I breathed a laugh. "I do try." Chimera dug its claws deeper into my arms and I let out a yelp, my back lifting off the ground again.

Echidna leaned down toward me and I tried not to cringe away. She leaned in close, like she was going to tell me a secret. I could feel her breath dance across my ear and neck. I gritted my teeth as revulsion washed through me.

"I can't tell you now," she whispered. "It's too early."

"Dying woman's last request?" I replied weakly. Echidna pulled back and stood up, smiling.

At first, I thought she was going to ignore me like most of the monsters did when I asked them why they had just a vendetta against me. Other than the fact that I was demigod, and the fact that there was a reward.

To my surprise, she actually answered, "Someone very powerful has some very big plans for you, little demigod." It was vague, but at least it gave me something.

Of course, even the vaguest of answers didn't really help me if I was dead. Which only begged the question, if whoever was instigating and offering the reward for my death, what would _they_ gain from _my_ death? How could they possibly use me if I was dead?

Echidna looked at Chimera before turning and walking away. I looked back at Chimera to see its lion-head's maw wide open. I saw the spark in the back of its throat and I braced myself for the pain.

My only consolation would be that it wouldn't last long.

I was already slipping away, anyway. The black that was encroaching on my vision had now taken over half of it. The pain of my wounds, even the ones Chimera was actively making, was finally, mercifully fading—a dull ache, like the ever-present one in my chest. I could handle that.

I closed my eyes and tried to let my body relax.

Suddenly, Chimera roared. Its claws left my arms and my eyes snapped open. I let out the breath I'd been holding in. I only got a glimpse of the monster as it reared back, snarling and yelping as volley after volley of arrows rained down on the creature. I thought for sure with all the arrows, Chimera would be dust. Instead, Echidna and Chimera both ran off, shrieking. Echidna, since she could talk, was yelling something about how this was only the beginning, that _she_ was rising…whoever "she" was.

Footsteps in the grass, then a familiar face entered what was left of my vision.

"Will," I gasped. My half-brother, our best healer in the Apollo cabin. He was only fourteen, but he appeared and acted much older, because, like most of us, he'd seen and gone through some pretty awful things already.

Will was trying to speak to me, but I couldn't understand what he was saying. It wasn't like I couldn't hear him, my brain couldn't process the words. The venom was making my heart stutter irregularly. By this point, it'd had nearly spread into my whole body. It didn't matter I hadn't been actually set on fire, I was already burning.

"S-snakebite…Chimera…" I choked out, trying to move my hand to where the diamondback had bitten me. I saw Will's blue eyes shift to where I had been bitten. When he looked back at me, he started speaking again, his lips were moving rapidly. Clearly he was worried, but like before I still couldn't understand what he was saying.

The darkness was closing in ever faster.

I couldn't fight it anymore. I closed my eyes and let the blissful numbness wash over me.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I feel like this is such a trope, but ¯\\_( ツ )_/¯ oh well. To be fair, they are good stopping points when people are on the verge of physical collapse and/or dying, so.
> 
> Anyway, hopefully, since I'm, like, really excited about this story, I'll get the next chapter to you within the next few days. (No promises, though, like for serious.)
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	3. Wake Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **TRIGGER WARNING:** allusion to suicide, talk of self-harm
> 
> I should really stop telling you guys when I might be posting, because odds are, the universe will make it so it takes me longer than the estimated time. universe: you think you're so funny.
> 
> Anyway, here it is at last, the third chapter.

 

I was standing on Mount Tamalpais. It was a mountain in California. During the Second Titan War, it was the titan's headquarters—a palace made of black marble so dark that it seemed to suck the light from everything around it. After the war, it collapsed into rubble, the titans fleeing into hiding. Some had been in the Battle of Manhattan, so some were defeated and sent back to Tartarus.

Now, however, there was no black palace, just rubble. Except the rubble didn't look like a black palace had collapsed, it looked more like ancient ruins. I knew I was on Mount Tam because of the swirling grey sky above me. I'd been on this mountain countless of times with Luke. I had always looked up—it had become a habit—because I had the naïve hope that I'd actually see the sun or stars when I did.

I was also surrounded by fog.

No, not fog— _Mist_. I remembered learning that it was dangerous for demigods to travel to California because the Mist was stronger here, which meant that there were more monsters to be concealed. It was so thick, it was visible, and because it was visible the mortals saw it and they had to rationalize it, therefore: fog.

I had to wonder what I was doing here, and whether or not this was a dream.

I fought the urge to call out into the Mist, knowing it would do me no good. Instead, I looked around trying to gather my bearings before starting in a direction that I hoped wouldn't lead me off a cliff. Though, I had fallen off a cliff here before, so it wasn't like that was something new to me. I'd died from that fall, but Kronos had brought me back because Luke had threatened to stop helping the titan lord achieve his goal if I wasn't alive.

After a few moments, something appeared. It was just a shadowy-like thing lying on the ground at first. I slowed my pace and squinted my eyes, trying to see if I could make out details, my hand automatically going for my sword. When I grasped air, I quickly looked down at my waist to see that I didn't have my sword with me. Definitely a dream, then. I never went anywhere without a weapon anymore. I never knew if/when I was going to be sent on an errand for Mr. D. It wasn't just that, either, it had become routine when I got up—get dressed, weapons before anything else.

Regardless, I didn't feel comfortable without any of my weapons. Especially my sword. While I was definitely great with a bow and arrow, I was just as good with a sword because I'd trained with the best, and I'd pushed myself to become as proficient as I could.

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my racing heart and shaking hands. I hated feeling so helpless. That was one of the reasons I trained so hard with a bow and arrows, sword, and dagger. I didn't want to feel helpless like I had been when my mom had been attacked.

Of course…weapons could only do me so good. I could've been the most powerful demigod on the entire planet and I still wouldn't have been able to save Luke.

I stopped walking completely and shook my head. I couldn't think like this right now. Or ever, really. If I thought about it too long, I'd break completely. And I didn't know if I'd be able to put myself back together again if I did.

I closed my eyes, clenched my fists, and shoved the demons that had started to rattle and shake their cage down.

_Focus,_ I told myself. The demons were silenced. My hands stopped shaking. I opened my eyes again and straightened up. Without hesitating, I started toward the shadow lying on the ground, and as I got closer, the more detail I could make out. It was a body, lying on their stomach, head turned to one side. They had long, curly blonde hair—

"Annabeth?" I asked in shocked whisper.

_It's just a dream,_ I told myself. _It's just a dream._

Annabeth was another demigod. We had a rocky history. I still wasn't sure where we stood in our relationship. She didn't trust me from the very start that got the ball rolling that led to the Second Titan War. As time went on, she became more and more distrustful, began to hate me, partly due to the fact that I was with Luke (she'd had a crush on him) partly due to the fact that she didn't trust me and her friend, Percy, did, despite all the warning signs.

After everything was over (and I'd revealed certain things), she saw me in a different light. The only problem was, I wasn't sure what kind of light. I hadn't talked or interacted her after the war was over and I was sentenced. She'd gone back to school in California.

The Annabeth I saw here looked younger than she should've been now. She looked…thirteen, fourteen. I thought back, trying to fit all the pieces together: Annabeth at thirteen, Mount Tam, the different rubble—

As soon as it clicked into place, I stumbled back with a choked gasp. Not another one.

Instinct kicked in, I backed away more before tearing my eyes from Annabeth's body, turning and running in the opposite direction. The Mist surrounded me, engulfed me until all I could see was Mist, not even the rubble anymore. I could run right off a cliff and not be aware. Though, maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Maybe it would wake me up.

Instead of running of a cliff, I ran into Annabeth again. This time, she was conscious, staggering through the rubble with her dagger out and at the ready. Her eyes were alert and cautious. I quickly turned away and ran in a different direction, back into the Mist.

I ran into Annabeth one more time. She was a little ways ahead of me.

"Thorn!" she yelled. "Where are you? Why did you bring me here?" She continued forward, struggling over what was left of a wall.

Dr. Thorn was a Manticore. He'd been working for Atlas—yes, the Atlas who holds up the sky—who'd been helping Kronos while he still didn't have a body. Dr. Thorn had been trying to kidnap two demigods at some boarding school, Nico and Bianca di Angelo, children of Hades. Percy, Annabeth, and their friend, Thalia, had met Grover to rescue them. Long story short, Annabeth ended up falling off the side of a cliff on Dr. Thorn's back. She'd been taken to Mount Tam.

Annabeth gasped, bringing me back to the dream/flashback, before running forward, further into the Mist. I lost sight of her. Regardless, I turned and booked it out of there, hoping that if I was able to run fast enough I wouldn't have to see what was coming next. Because I had a very bad feeling about what was coming—probably the only time.

In my other dreams I never knew what I was going to see, but I knew what happened here. I hadn't been there (too busy being prisoner and trying to stay alive after being stabbed with my own sword from an _empousa_ who had a grudge against me), but I'd been told after the fact.

Despite knowing deep down that I wouldn't be able to outrun this dream, I still had to try. I always tried. Like usual, it didn't do me any good. A scene broke through the Mist: Luke was kneeling under some heavy weight, trying to hold it up.

_The sky,_ I thought. He'd told me that he'd had to hold up the sky. He'd willingly taken Atlas's burden to trick…Annabeth.

Some of the Mist parted to reveal the girl. She was looking at Luke, frozen, grey eyes wide.

"Annabeth!" Luke called. "Help me! Please!"

The girl ran forward.

I tried to move again but found I couldn't. I was stuck, frozen, forced to watch the one I loved to betray the one he considered his family (they weren't biologically related). My heart started pounding against my chest painfully. I could feel my hands shaking at my side. The Mist seemed to solidify around me, making it hard to breathe.

Even from where I stood, I could see the tears in Annabeth's eyes as she reached forward to touch his face. She paused, though, thought better of it and pulled her hand back.

"What happened?" she asked in a shaky whisper.

"They left me here," Luke choked, gasping. "Please. It's killing me."

"Why should I trust you?" Annabeth asked. Her voice was more hurt than cautious. Luke and Annabeth had a long history together. Some of it was happy, some very painful. After she'd found out Luke was trying to bring down the gods, her loyalties stayed with the gods, but on some level she had always cared for Luke, and wanted to save him while defeating Kronos.

"You shouldn't," Luke acquiesced and swallowed hard. "I've been terrible to you. But if you don't help me, I'll die."

Annabeth paused, thinking, which didn't last long. A sound like thunder echoed through my ears. Large chunks of black rocks started to rain down. Her time to think was over. Annabeth rushed forward and took the weight of the sky from Luke. (Even now, it was an impressive feat. I couldn't believe she'd managed for as long as she did.)

Luke rolled out from underneath. "Thanks," he gasped.

"Help me hold it," Annabeth pleaded, her body shaking.

Luke took one more deep breath before breathing somewhat normally, and unsteadily got to his feet.

"I knew I could count on you," he told her, as if nothing had happened. As if he hadn't just tricked his family member into doing an impossible, life-threatening task. Annabeth was just barely managing.

"HELP ME!" she cried.

"Oh, don't worry," Luke replied. "Your help is on the way. It's all part of the plan. In the meantime try not to die."

The weight of his words hit me like a ton of bricks as the rumbling began again, Annabeth sinking lower and lower to the ground.

I had known that Luke had tricked Annabeth. Percy had messaged me, thinking I might know something about Annabeth's situation, seeing as I was with Luke at the time it happened. The problem was, I'd still been somewhat of a prisoner. Treated less like a prisoner because the closer I got to death, the more Luke became protective of me. Nevertheless, I wasn't told what was going on pertaining to Kronos's plans to gain enough power to make himself whole again.

But _this_ …I didn't even know what to think. Luke's cold cruelty to someone he loved cut me like a knife.

When I had asked him what he'd done, he'd told me he'd tricked Annabeth into taking the burden. At the time, he'd seemed so torn up about it. It seemed like he hadn't wanted to trick her, but Kronos was threatening him with my life, which already hung in the balance. I remember feeling so bad for being part of the cause of his pain—having to choose between me or Annabeth.

But now? After watching this? That memory would forever be frozen over with doubt, hurt, anger, and confusion.

The way he'd spoken to Annabeth after she'd _willingly_ taken the sky for her! It was…so indifferent, cold. How could he have addressed her like that? He _knew_ the pain of having to hold the sky and he'd thrown it onto a thirteen-year-old without blinking an eye.

Had he been acting or had he really felt that way? Had he been acting when he'd told me what happened or had he really felt as conflicted as I thought he had?

I stumbled back, able to move again. The Mist swirled around me, obscuring Annabeth and the rocks and rubble. I was completely surrounded once more.

I shook my head and whispered, "No." I just… _couldn't_ believe that Luke would lie to me like that. The reason Luke begged Kronos to bring me back after my fall was because he'd loved me so much. I couldn't believe Luke could be so cruel.

Then…how could I explain Luke trying to killing Percy when the boy was only twelve? Or when he'd fought Percy as he held Annabeth, Grover and Tyson hostage when he'd wanted the Golden Fleece? Or this?

Of course, it wasn't completely all his doing. Kelli, an _empousa_ (also the one who'd stabbed me), had done some serious charmspeak work on him. Still…that didn't excuse him from the things he'd done. Having been around and seen charmspeak firsthand, I knew it was much like hypnosis: Some were more susceptible to it, more open to suggestion, and this susceptibility laid on a continuum. Also, people who are under hypnosis would be willing to do what the hypnotist suggested of them, whether or not they were under hypnosis.

In short, that meant that some part of Luke was willing to hurt or kill, no matter someone's age. If they stood in his way, he'd cut them down.

"Wake up," I whispered to myself, desperately.

I wasn't sure if I'd known this subconsciously and just vehemently denied it, but, either way, it still hit me like a bolt of lightning.

_Wake up._

Maybe people were right to not trust me. Maybe I was just as bad of a person because I loved him.

_Wake up!_

My eyes flew open. My heart was pounding in my chest like it had been in the dream. But my body felt heavy, my brain fuzzy and lethargic. When I tried to move my fingers, pain shot up my arm like a million tiny needles had just run up the length of my arm in a wave.

"Oh," I breathed.

"You're finally up." I turned my head, wincing, to see Will come up to the edge of my bed, holding a glass of water in his hand. He looked tired, but offered me a small smile. He did too much, pushed himself too hard. I wondered how long it was since he'd last slept.

I cleared my throat and opened my mouth to speak, but Will shook his head. "Here, drink this first," he said.

I took a deep breath, which sounded more like a heavy sigh. Moving was a task—my body felt a thousand times heavier and I found out that any movement caused painful prickles to spread throughout my body, wave after wave. Must've been some kind of side-effect of the venom. To be honest, I was surprised that I'd survived. It'd spread to nearly my whole body by the time my siblings had driven the monster away.

Will, seeing how much I was struggling, set the cup down on the bedside table.

"Honestly, Tori," he sighed, putting an arm around my shoulders and taking one of my hands to help me sit up. I flinched at my nickname, as usual, but Will didn't notice because I'd been flinching the whole time. "Must you always be so stubborn? It's okay to ask for help, you know."

"If I didn't make your life harder, I wouldn't be doing my job, now would I?" I joked, panting from the effort. Will scoffed as he pulled away and held the glass out. I reached up with a shaking hand, realized I probably wouldn't be able to hold it with one hand, and took the glass with both hands. Only, as soon as Will let go, I felt it slipping from my grasp. Thankfully, Will had fast reflexes.

I let out a sharp sigh, letting my hands fall into my lap and looking away, embarrassed. Of course, I had a good reason not to be able to hold a simple glass of water, but still. My hatred for feeling helpless had extended into all aspects of my life.

"I'll go get a straw," Will said quickly, taking the glass with him. He left the room. I recognized the infirmary in the Big House. We had two at camp. One in the Big House and one as an added wing to the Apollo cabin.

After the war, the camp grounds started to fill up with cabins for the other gods and their children, which meant construction of new cabins. The Apollo cabin had decided to capitalize on all the work being done and asked for an infirmary to be built as an attachment to our cabin. It would be useful to have two infirmaries. With more campers there were bound to be more injuries. Not only that, but if someone was hurt closer to the cabins, we'd be able to get them inside the infirmary there and treat them as quickly as possible. Practically, it was the perfect idea.

I didn't want to be left alone to think, but here I was. I'd had dreams like this before. I had a hunch that this was another part of my punishment, being shown the terrible things Luke had done that I hadn't been there for. I wasn't sure what their goal was, the gods, I mean, but if it was to make me confused and question who Luke _really_ was, as well as who _I_ was, it was working. I'd tried to fight it, but being surrounded by people who didn't trust you—hated you, even—it was hard to keep it up… _exhausting_ , even.

"Here," Will said, breaking me from my thoughts. He held the glass low and I took hold of it, quickly resting it on my leg. Leaning down to drink was a bit awkward, but the straw made it easier.

"Thanks, Will," I said, when I'd downed half the glass. I kept my eyes on the water. Taking a deep breath, I braced myself before asking, "…how long was I out?"

"A little over a day," Will answered.

" _What?_ " I moved the glass to the bedside table, slamming it down so hard, water spilled over on my hands before throwing the blanket off my legs. Every movement sent fire through my veins, like I'd been bitten all over again, but I ignored that. I had ignored my duty! "I-I have to give my report." I said, mostly to myself as I tried to stand. That was much harder. As soon as I was on my feet, my head swam. My vision went black and my ears rang, drowning out Will's voice. I sat back down hard, breathing hard.

When the ringing died down, it was a different voice I recognized, scolding me. I blinked the blackness from my vision and looked to my right before glaring accusingly at Will.

"You called him?" I growled, well as much as I could. It was all I could do to keep sitting upright. I had no idea where I'd found the strength to slam the glass down on the table a moment ago.

Will looked away and it got really quiet. I suddenly regretted being angry.

"It was touch-and-go for quite a while," Will explained quietly. "We…weren't sure you were going to make it. The venom had spread throughout your whole body. I wanted your brother to be there if…" My half-brother trailed off and squeezed his eyes shut, his hands fisting at his sides.

My eyes slid over to Daniel, Dan for short. My brother. My twin brother. We had a pretty rocky past. He hadn't been home when our mom had been attacked and killed. Apollo had claimed him before he'd claimed me. Our relationship hadn't been great after that point, but we'd managed to reconcile after Dan had been attacked by an _empousa_. He'd almost died and I realized how much I cared for and loved him, how much I wanted to reconnect, because he was important to me.

After that, we both became overly protective of each other. I became particularly over-protective of him after he'd left camp. Almost three years ago, he'd started going to college in New York. He'd made it out of our dangerous demigod lives. He'd occasionally visit, but those were rare. He was always busy with his schoolwork and participating in plays and theater work.

He'd become especially over-protective of me after Luke had died.

It looked like Dan hadn't slept since Will had informed him.

When the war had ended, Dan had offered to stay the rest of the summer because he was usually busy with summer projects, summer plays, and part-time jobs. But I told him that he didn't have to, and that I'd inform him if I was having any trouble and needed him here. So far, I…well, I hadn't been very good at that. It was mostly because I when I thought I needed him and when he thought I needed him were two very different things. So my siblings were the ones who informed him when things got bad.

It wasn't that I didn't care that this worried him, I cared a lot. It was mostly that I didn't want to worry him with how well I was handling all of… _this_. Which is to say, not super well.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, looking away.

"I'm just glad you're all right," Dan replied softly.

I looked back up at him and managed a small smile. He returned mine with his own. Then I remembered that I still needed to give my report to Mr. D, that I was _late_ , and tried to stand again.

Both Dan and Will came forward, reprimanding me, but I stumbled/pushed past them.

"I need to go," I objected weakly. Blackness was creeping in on my vision and it felt like there was an elephant sitting on my chest. Not to mention the pin-pricks that washed through me every time I moved. "I have to…to give my report."

"Tori, please," Will said, almost desperately. "You shouldn't even be awake right now. You need to _rest_. You aren't even fifty percent recovered."

I continued to stumble forward, crashing into cots and grasping for something to stabilize myself with.

"No, I-I've waited too long," I mumbled. A warm, firm hand grabbed my arm. I turned to see Dan, glaring at me through unshed tears.

"Why do you have to be so _reckless_?" he hissed.

We gazed at each other for a long moment. Tears formed in my eyes. The blackness was eating up my vision. I could feel my body starting to give in. Standing, speaking like this had taken it all out of me.

"I don't want to go back to sleep," I whispered. Dan blinked like he'd just been shocked, his grip on my arm loosening. "Please, don't make me go back to sleep." I started sinking, my legs no longer able to hold me up. Dan came forward to catch me, carefully lowering me to the ground, pulling me against him to keep me somewhat upright.

"You need to rest," Dan told me.

I shook my head. "No—" I blinked and my tears spilled over.

"I'll be right here," Dan promised, gripping my hand. I wanted to object more, but I blinked again and couldn't open my eyes. Slowly, I was engulfed into darkness and silence.

Dan's promise brought me back to the week after the war, the week after Luke had died in my arms.

I had been at the climbing wall, which I didn't see the point of, and still didn't. Honestly, I'd faced so much more and so much worse than this. But it was part of my schedule, which I was supposed to follow to a T unless otherwise stated, per Mr. D's orders. So, like, if I was called to the Big House to be assigned a mission, I wouldn't have to climb the shaking, lava-spouting wall.

As I climbed, I almost hoped I _would_ be summoned and given a mission.

It didn't help that this activity was with the Ares cabin. After everything that happened with a child of Aphrodite, named Silena Beauregard, the Ares cabin hated me. Long story short, Silena had been a spy for the titan lord, but died a hero, trying to fix her mistake. I'd known she was the spy, but denied this fact to keep her dad safe, who Kronos threatened to kill if she told anyone at camp. Clarisse, the head councilor for the Ares cabin, had made good friends with Silena several months before she died.

Because I'd known she was the spy, but didn't tell anyone, the Ares cabin blamed me for her death. This was also the reason the Aphrodite cabin hated me. I knew from word around camp, Drew thought Silena was a traitor, not a hero, but she didn't want to go against the flow of things, which was to hate me. So, she pretended that she thought Silena was a hero in the end.

If they knew I only kept it a secret because I'd sworn on the Styx to keep her secret to keep her father safe, I didn't think they would be so angry with me. Just because this camp liked to gossip, didn't mean it was the whole truth, or even close to the truth. To be fair, that was the definition of gossip.

Anyway, it was just hard to concentrate on climbing the wall when I had a bunch of angry kids of the war god glaring at me the whole time.

I was about half-way up, holding on as a tremor rocked the wall, and just barely managed to dodge a blast of lava. It shot out of a crevice on my right, so close to my arm I felt the heat dry my skin out. I paused as it died down, dribbling down the wall in a steady stream. I stared at the glowing orange liquid, my arm stinging from the close call.

I wondered what it feel like if it actually touched me…

Transfixed, I started to reach toward the crevice with my right hand. My heart was pounding with the anticipation of the pain, but I kept my hand on its course.

"Williams!" a gruff voice snapped from below me. I jumped and pulled my hand back, grabbing onto my handhold as the wall started shaking violently and another spout of lava shot from the hole.

I glanced down to see Clarisse glaring up at me. "Move it! I don't have all day!"

I looked back up and shook off those thoughts of burning myself as I started to climb again. In no time at all, I was at the top. I hit the button and a bell rang out, marking my achievement, but I paused at the there, twisting my head around to look out at the camp. The view was fantastic as long as you had a good hold on the wall.

Clarisse growled, fed up with my slow pace, and climbed at a diagonal so she could get past me and reach the top. She glared at me as she slammed the button.

I looked down, at the wall. "Did they also tell you I swore on the Styx to keep her secret because Kronos was threatening her dad?" I asked quietly. When Clarisse didn't answer, I snuck a peak up at her. She was averting her gaze, her eyes far away. After another long pause, she made a noncommittal noise before she started picking her way down the wall.

I sighed and looked out over the camp again, then made the mistake of looking straight down. It wasn't that I was afraid of heights. It was more like my brain decided it was a good idea to wonder if I would survive a fall from such a height.

Was this wall as high as the cliff I'd fallen from? Probably not. Still, a straight fall would kill me, wouldn't it? It was still pretty high, and if I didn't plan on landing on my feet, tucking and rolling, there was the possibility.

I couldn't tell you exactly what happened, because it's a blank space in my memory. One moment, I was thinking about whether or not I'd survive a fall from so high up, the next I was actually falling. The blue sky filled my vision, getting farther and farther away as I fell farther. I heard screaming and shouting, but I'd entered my own bubble, so their voices were muted.

I do remember closing my eyes and the sensation of hitting something hard enough to make me black out. For obvious reasons, I don't remember what happened after that.

When I opened my eyes I saw the ceiling of the infirmary of the Big House. The infirmary wing of the Apollo cabin wasn't finished yet.

I sat up and looked around, noticing that all my siblings were scattered around the room. Some were sitting, some were sleeping, some were pacing. Chiron was also there, in his wheelchair form, quietly talking with Will. Immediately to my left was—

"Dan!" I exclaimed, bringing everyone's attention to me. Dan stopped pacing and turned to look at me with wide, watery eyes. What was he doing here?

My brother rushed up to me, kneeling and pulling me into a hug.

"I was so worried," he murmured, holding me tighter. I tentatively put my arms around him, still confused. My brain was still booting up.

"I—You don't have to be," I stuttered. Dan didn't like that. He pulled away from me, gripping my shoulders and glaring at me so fiercely I was startled. "What…what's wrong?"

"You mean, you don't remember?" Kayla asked, coming closer to my cot. The rest of the cabin had also gathered around, some blinking sleep from their eyes. I looked around at them, at their worried and concerned faces.

"What are you talking about?" I exclaimed, pulling my shoulders from Dan's grasp. "I don't understand. You guys are starting to really freak me out."

"Tori," Chiron said gently. I involuntarily flinched at my nickname, but turned to face him. His ancient eyes were sad and clouded. "You…fell from the top of the climbing wall."

It came rushing back to me then, the climb up. My short one-sided conversation with Clarisse. Thinking about if I'd survive a fall, falling…. I exhaled a big breath slowly, trying to organize my jumbled thoughts.

Dan grabbed my hand.

"Tori," he started, causing me to flinch again. "If there's something you're not telling us—"

I ripped my hand from Dan's and stood up, forcing my brother to stand, and my other siblings to step back a little.

"It's not like that!" I snapped. Despite my claim, a wave of panic washed through me and I felt my eyes start to burn. My heart felt like it was trying to burst from my chest.

Dan took a careful step toward me. "It's okay. If you want to talk about it—"

"No!" I interrupted him again. "I'm _okay_. It…was an accident. I don't know what happened. I must've have just…my hands must've slipped. I must've zoned out or something and let go. It was an accident. I'm _fine_."

"Clearly not!" Dan yelled back, letting his own fear come through. I could see it in his eyes, the way he stood, the worry in his voice. "You forgot there were several dozen other witnesses there! They saw you! You _let_ _go_ of the wall! And now you're _denying_ —"

"That's not…" I tried, chest heaving. I could feel the panic closing around my throat, making it harder to breathe. My heart felt like it was going into cardiac arrest. Had it really happened like that? Had my brain just decided to let go? To see if I'd survive that fall? Or to see if that fall would kill me?

"Not what?" Dan asked in a low voice. "Tori, if you need to talk to someone—"

" _Stop_ saying that!" I shrieked. "I'm fine!" I felt the tears spill over, but I ignored them. The whole room had gone silent. "I'm fine." I repeated quieter, my arms coming around me, as the ache in my chest started to tear me in two. "I'm fine." I bowed my head, feeling their stares, but not wanting any of them to see me. "I _have to be_ fine." The tears were coming so fast now, I couldn't hold them back. I started curling in on myself. "I have to be strong. I have to be whole. I can't…I can't let them see me break."

I lifted my head to look at Dan. "Don't you get it? They kept me alive to _punish_ me. This is my punishment. They kept me alive because they wanted to see me broken. I can't give them that satisfaction."

Dan's expression looked heartbroken and I realized that I was losing this battle. Admitting this to him, to my siblings, to Chiron, admitting that I _wasn't_ fine, that I was breaking, was giving the gods exactly what they wanted.

I lowered my head again and hugged myself tighter, squeezing my eyes shut, trying to get a hold of myself. The dam had broken, though. The tears wouldn't stop. Sobs started to build in my throat, and no matter how hard I hugged myself, I could still feel myself being pulled apart by the gaping hole in my chest.

"I miss him," I cried softly, my knees buckling. I was immediately enveloped in warm, strong arms—my brother's arms. "I miss him so much." I sobbed, leaning into Dan, grasping one of his arms with my hands.

And then I let go. And I let the pain, the loss, the grief, wash over me. And I sobbed, saying incoherent things. I let myself get pulled out to sea, keeping my death grip on Dan's arm. I let him hold me together as I fell apart. I let him be my anchor, so I would be able to return.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so look at that. It's been a bit, but it's also 9 pages in a Word Doc. Though, this was pretty dark…and very sad. Still, it's part of Tori's story that needs to be told. Especially for the readers who are just now joining in on her life.
> 
> Anyway, not much else to say other than I got a huge writer's block and that's why this chapter took so long. I've worked out somewhat of a timeline, so hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently. But no promises of when future chapters might come because we all know how those end up.
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	4. It Wasn't Easy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so look at that, another chapter!
> 
> As always, hope you enjoy!

 

I found out later that Dan and Will had spoken with Mr. D, with Chiron present as a mediator, and managed to somehow convince Mr. D that it would be in everyone's best interest for me to stay at camp and rest until I was completely and fully healed from Chimera's venom. That meant minimal activities, no assignments or missions, and no chores.

Yes, I had chores. On top of everything else. I had to do laundry, and when I say the laundry, I don't just mean Cabin 7's laundry, I mean _all_ the laundry for _all_ the cabins. I cleaned the stables twice a week. I cleaned the rec room every night before lights out. I did cabin inspections whenever Mr. D told me I needed to. Oh, and I also helped the harpies wash dishes once a week. It was a struggle, but I'd had to do this list of chores before (long story), so I had developed a routine that didn't exhaust me so much that I was on the verge of physical collapse every single day.

Anyway, as I was saying, my new assignment was bedrest. Maybe some physical exercise, but mostly bedrest. I wasn't too happy about this. I mean, I was happy that I didn't have to do chores or go on missions for the time being, but not being able to train—my lifeblood—did not make me a happy camper in the slightest.

After I'd collapsed and slept for another two days, Will deemed me fit enough to go back and stay in the Apollo cabin again. Dan wanted to stay until I was fully recovered, but it was the middle of the semester, so he had classes and homework and normal life stuff to get back to. He made me promise, as he always did, to IM him if anything happened. Then he made Will promise to do the same since he knew I probably wasn't going to do that unless I was on my deathbed. Even then….

I wasn't the type to be cooped up. I needed to move about. To train. Sitting around, watching people move made me restless as fuck. It was also just another form of helplessness and my aversion to being or feeling helpless only grew.

And, okay, it wasn't just that, either. They say that sleep is the best medicine. While that's true, it wasn't true for me. My nightmares kept me from experiencing any sort of rest while I was asleep. And while I was awake, with nothing to do but lie in bed, I was left to my own thoughts. Which didn't help with my recovery, because I only thought about my dreams. And the past. What I could've done to prevent it all from happening, which is to say die.

I could've just died and we wouldn't even be here now. There would've been no war with the Titans at all. Everyone who had died leading up to and during the war would still be alive.

Of course, I'd thought those things many times. Too many times. More times than I could count or am willing to admit. So dwelling on those did me no good. Wishful thinking did me no good.

No, instead, my brain thought about my more pressing issues: my dreams. Those flashbacks of Luke's worst crimes against innocent people, shown to me in such a cold, harsh light. Those memories that made me question who Luke was. Those recollections that made me question who _I_ was…in that how could I still love him, even after seeing all those atrocities he'd committed? How could I justify what he did by saying that that _empousa_ and Kronos were influencing him and that's why he was doing those things? What kind of person did that make me?

Aphrodite had told me once that our relationship was like _Romeo and Juliet_. Upon initially hearing that, I was afraid that meant we were both going to die. After the war, I had thought she'd been wrong because it had been much worse. But now? Now I thought maybe she'd been right. It wasn't the ending she was talking about, it was the young kids throwing their love at each other with reckless abandon.

She'd also commented about how, like in the Shakespeare's story, we were star-crossed. Unable to be together because we were on two opposing sides. At the time, I'd assumed she'd meant that I was on the side of the good, and Luke was on the side of the bad. But Luke had sacrificed himself to save the world. Me? I had been happy to see the world burn if it meant keeping my promise to him.

Okay, that's a bit melodramatic, but I _had_ let a lot of things happen because I loved Luke so much, because I loved him and didn't want to break my promise _because_ I loved him that much.

In the end it was just too hard to tell what the goddess of love meant when she'd made the comment about good and bad. It was probably more complicated than just good and bad. There were too many grey areas. All in varying shades.

This was part of the reason I didn't like to be alone with my thoughts, why I needed to move and be doing something at all times. If I thought too much, my chest started to ache. My demons rattled in their cage, reminding me of all we'd lost. All I'd lost. The one I loved the most…dying right in my arms.

My breath hissed through my teeth and bolted upright. Those tiny needles that poked me when I moved, moving through my body like a wave, hadn't gone away so sitting up so suddenly was a mistake. I stilled, closed my eyes, and forced myself to take deep breaths as they ran their course and disappeared. Slowly I opened my eyes and looked around the room. Good, no one was here. Probably out at an activity.

Despite the pain it caused me, I threw my blanket off me and slipped off the bed, gripping the bed post to keep upright as the needles traveled through my body. Now that I thought about it, it was akin to trying to move a limb when it has fallen asleep. Except, this was my whole body, not just part of it. Also, it was, perhaps, a bit more painful than that. Okay, much more painful than that, if I'm being completely honest.

I slipped on my shoes, because I was already fully dressed, and strapped my sword to my waist out of habit before scribbling a quick note about where I was and then exiting the cabin. Thankfully, after sleeping for two days, my body could stay upright for longer periods of time without shutting down. I made sure the coast was clear, because no doubt if any of my siblings caught me they'd send me straight back inside, before starting toward the Hades cabin.

There was only one child of Hades that I knew of. His name was Nico di Angelo. Before the war, I'd only ever seen him twice and interacted with him once. He'd come to me when inquiring about the Curse of Achilles and going about getting that curse (not for himself, though). I'd been with Luke when he'd asked for his mother's blessing and when he'd taken the plunge. Nico wanted to confirm with me that a person needed their mother's blessing before jumping into the Styx.

At the time, the camp had been grieving over the loss of Charles Beckendorf. A camper who was well-liked and well-respected. He'd died when Percy, another demigod who was the son of Poseidon, and him, and then me (having joined them later at Silena's, Bckendorf's girlfriend, request) tried to blow up Kronos's demon cruise ship. The camp had blamed me for his death, since my involvement on that mission wasn't agreed upon by the war council.

To this day, I still blamed myself for not being able to save him.

Anyway, during our interaction and Nico's inquiries, the boy had mentioned how he knew a thing or two about the shadows after I'd mentioned to him that my life was nothing but covered in shadows and darkness. He'd said if I wanted, I could go to him for help, advice. At the time, it was more grim humor, idle banter. After the war, however, with so many trips to the Underworld, I'd bumped into Nico so much so that whenever I saw him in the Underworld he invited me to Hades's palace for hot cocoa. This was also, after I started getting really good and completing the mission with a few hours to spare before I had to report back.

Upon realizing that I wasn't coping so well with Luke's death after that disastrous first week and my fall off the climbing wall, I asked Nico how he'd dealt with the loss of his sister, Bianca. From then on, we'd developed an odd sort of relationship. I don't know that I'd call it a friendship, exactly, because like me, Nico spent most of his time with the dead. Not only that, but he always seemed distant, cut off from others.

Children of Hades weren't usually welcome, but after the war, things had changed. Nico had been a huge help in the war and he became more accepted at camp. Only, the kid closed up again. He stopped living at camp, frequenting it less and less, probably preferring the Underworld more. I don't know where he went when he wasn't at camp or in the Underworld.

After a few more visits with Nico up in the palace, he'd invited me to visit the Hades cabin any time I wanted. He told me that he probably wasn't going to be there most of the time, but if I just wanted to hang out in a dark, quiet place, I was free to go. So I did.

If he was there, we would chat a little. Mostly, we'd just sit in silence. The Hades cabin had become my secret hiding place, away from my siblings or anyone who would be concerned about me. There, I could sit in a between two bunks and rock back and forth if I needed to. Nico asked no questions and never judged me for it, which I appreciated it.

It was a calming technique for me, when things got too overwhelming but I didn't want to break down completely. My back hitting the wall grounded me. I only allowed myself to do so when I could no longer hold it in. However, doing my special technique around my siblings would only make them worry and I didn't want to make them worry any more than they already were about me.

When I got to the front door of Cabin 13, I looked behind me one last time before knocking and slowly opening the door, peeking my head in. As usual it was pitch black, probably due to the fact that it had no windows and the whole cabin was made of obsidian…much like the palace of the Titans on Mt. Tam. (It'd taken me a _long_ time to actually take Nico up on his offer about visiting his cabin.) The front had large columns and torches that burned green twenty-four seven, with a skull over the door.

As I stepped in and closed the door, lights flickered on. They were dim, like candlelight. It was comforting. I never understood the design of the beds: mahogany frames, brass railings, and blood-red blankets and pillows, but I never questioned it. I never slept or sat in them anyway.

I took a deep breath before going over to my little corner between two bunks and slowly lowering myself down onto the floor, back up against the wall as I looked around the cabin. I brought my knees to my chest, resting my hands in my lap (usually, I'd wrap them around my legs, but using any muscles caused those prickles) and looked around the room, trying to clear my mind if only for this moment. I didn't rock this time, either, instead keeping my back pressed up against the wall for some kind of grounding.

I looked down at the hands in my lap, the ring on my right ring finger. It'd been a present. From Luke. It was a plain, smooth ring that appeared to be made from Celestial bronze, however, as the days passed and I played with it, slid it on and off my finger, the bronze slowly began to chip away to reveal gold underneath. Now, because I'd played with it so much, it was a solid gold ring.

That wasn't the only thing. He'd also given me a necklace. This had another ring, only it acted as a pendent, rather than a ring strung onto a chain. This ring was made from some silvery metal (wouldn't have surprised me if it was pure silver) with a sound wave carved through the bottom of the ring of Luke saying "I love you", and the word "Promise" in the middle (also carved from the silvery metal).

I wore those two pieces of jewelry everywhere I went. They'd become a part of me. After my weapons, I put on the necklace and ring. Always. I wouldn't be able to go anywhere if I didn't have them.

Sometimes, I'd twist the ring on my finger, if I was thinking or worried. Now, though, I didn't want to _move_ , afraid the prickles would flare up if I did. By this point, my brain had become somewhat used to the never-ending sensation, like white noise but tactile. It was still a bit hard to concentrate right now, though, which was frustrating. Moving made it flare up.

I gently and carefully rested my head back against the wall, taking deep breaths, hoping the pain would fade to the background soon. To possibly distract myself, I gazed around the dim room.

Being in Cabin 13 always reminded me of the first time Nico invited me for hot cocoa at the palace.

I hit the ground with a grunt, the breath being knocked from my lungs. My sword flew out of my hand upon impact. I laid there, gasping for air that wouldn't come. The monster's talons tightened their grip on my neck. I felt dull pricks of pain, but nothing more.

Air rushed back into my lungs and I summoned my sword, the hilt flying into my waiting hand. I glared up at the snarling monster before me, who didn't seem to notice that I had my sword now, and gripped the hilt tightly, ready to swing up and dust this demon of disease.

But suddenly, the fight left me. I couldn't tell you what I was thinking because even to this day I don't know, but my grip slackened on my weapon. I stopped glaring up at the monster and let a serene expression spread across my face, accepting my death.

The monster cocked its head in confusion, tightening its grip on my neck. I felt more pain, blood start to slowly dribble out, but I made no indication that I was in pain. I continued to stare up at it, waiting.

Out of the blue, it stiffened and froze, its eyes going wide as a blade as black as night slashed through it. Instead of bursting to dust, its essence was sucked into the blade.

Gripping my own blade's hilt again, I sat up and met the brown eyes of Nico di Angelo. He still had his sword as the ready and he was looking me with a wary expression.

"Don't tell Will," I said.

Nico blinked and straightened, sheathing his sword. I stood and sheathed my own, wiping the blood off my neck with my hands. In retrospect, that probably made me look like more a of a murder—blood smears across my hands and neck—than helped clean off the blood.

"You say that like I interact with him on a daily basis," the son of Hades replied. I snorted. "Want to come up to the palace for some hot cocoa?" he asked. (This would become routine.)

"…sure," I said maybe a bit too cautiously.

"What?"

"Why?"

Nico shrugged. "We haven't talked in a while. Also it looks like you could use some nectar."

I looked at my watch. It was enchanted (with help from the Hecate kids) to tell me what time it was in the mortal realm since time worked different in mythical places.

It was my turn to shrug. "Lead the way."

And thus hot cocoa in Hades's palace became a thing. Often. Because Mr. D liked sending me to the Underworld quite a lot. I wasn't sure if it was because he wanted to punish me in the worst way possible or because he was subtly hinting at where I should be right now.

We'd sat on a small terrace that overlooked the Underworld—the Fields of Punishment, the Fields of Asphodel, and Elysium. (Another part of the routine.)

My first time siting there, I gazed at Elysium, barely paying attention to my hot cocoa. It wasn't that seeing souls being eternally tortured wasn't entertaining or anything, but because I knew Luke was there…. I don't know why I liked looking at the place that his soul was currently residing, but I longed to be with him.

When Nico had mentioned not talking in a while, it had mostly been a joke on his part. Most of our talking had been done the first few weeks after I'd come to him seeking help with coping with my loss. After that, I found it nice just to be around someone who wouldn't ask questions, wouldn't try to make conversation to "keep my mind off sad things" or what have you, wouldn't judge me for my past, and wouldn't look at me with pity or sadness because he understood all of what I was going through.

Anyway, we sat there in silence, as I gazed at Elysium, wondering what Luke was doing right now, when I felt like I was being stared at. My eyes slid over to Nico to see him looking at something a little lower than my head with wide eyes and a slightly slack jaw. I instantly went on alert, my spoon clinking against the cup as I dropped it, for I'd been absentmindedly stirring my cocoa.

My hand automatically went to the hilt of my sword. "What, what is it?" I asked, looking around for any threats, including at the table, because that's where his gazed had seemed to be.

"You were…stirring," Nico started and I looked back at him confused. He was pointing at my cup.

"What?"

"But you weren't touching your spoon," he finished, his eyes going up to meet mine.

I tried to force my body to relax. You'd think I'd just be able to relax with no threat of imminent death, but I had so many false alarms it was hard to just switch from being alert to being relaxed. It was something that living on a demon cruise ship does to you because monsters liked to randomly attack you when you least expect it and you never knew when someone would turn on you and try to stab you in the back, literally.

I let go of the hilt of my sword and laughed, equal parts nervous and uncomfortable. I brought my right hand up onto the table, laying it palm up. I pointed at a small rune that'd been burned into my skin on my wrist, on the right side. It was barely noticeable to anyone who wasn't looking hard enough, which is the way I wanted it.

I'd made a sort of…deal, for the lack of a better word, with Hecate. Well, okay, more like her children. After a few times nearly dying because my sword was knocked from my hand and I couldn't get to it, I consulted the children of Hecate to see if there was a way I could wield some magic that would get rid of my problem.

They told me that they could draw a rune somewhere on me that would allow me to have a small amount of magic capability (more so than most demigods, but not nearly as much as children of Hecate). They warned me that burning the rune would be painful and that there was a pretty serious, binding contract I'd have to abide by. At the time, and still to this day, I had nothing to lose, so I agreed to it.

"Hecate's children, specifically Lou Ellen, gave me this," I explained to Nico. "Well, I say gave. It allows me some telekinesis, which I mostly use when my sword flies from my hands and I can't get to it. I haven't tried much else with it, but Lou Ellen told me that it would grant me some ability to do any magic if I worked hard enough for it. Oh, and I can also control the Mist better than most demigods."

Nico blinked as I pulled my hand away. "How long did it take you to learn how to bring your sword back to your hand?"

I grimaced. "Too long. It wasn't easy. There were more than enough…accidents. Thankfully the only harm done was to myself, so, no harm done at all." I shrugged.

Nico paused. "To—Victoria…" I knew that tone of voice. It was the same tone of voice Will used when I'd said something concerning in a nonchalant way.

"I'm fine," I snapped, more harshly than I meant it to be, glaring at the son of Hades. He glared right back.

"You know you can talk to me about anything without the concern of worrying me, right?" he reminded me.

I dropped my glare and looked back at Elysium. "I know." I replied softly.

A sharp rap in the door broke me out of my memories. I blinked and looked at it in silence, the prickles crowding my brain for a moment before I managed to push it away…for the most part.

"Victoria?" A muffled voice called.

Without a word, I pushed myself to my feet, gritting my teeth as my body prickled and made my way to the door. I opened it slowly, allowing to my eyes to adjust to the sudden onslaught of light.

It wasn't actually as bright out as I thought it was going to be though. It looked like the sun was setting. How long had I been in there?

Will was standing on the porch. I slipped out, making sure to close the door behind me. I really hoped that this pain wouldn't be a permanent thing.

"It's dinnertime," Will said. I blinked, shocked that he'd allowed me to stay in there the rest of the day. But then I had a sneaking suspicion that perhaps he knew _why_ I liked being there and suddenly felt guilty. Then I realized that perhaps a certain son of Hades had spoken to a certain son of Apollo about my time spent with the former boy.

I chose to ignore this though, knowing that they only did what they did because they were concerned and cared about me and my wellbeing. Both physically and mentally. (Though, if I'm being honest, it was surprising to figure out that Nico was talking to Will about my state of mind on what I assumed was a regular basis.) It may have also explained why Will and Nico had told me almost the exact same thing about coping with Luke's death in those first few weeks. (And now, too, when I'm feeling particularly lost and ask for help.)

"You-you're allowing me to eat dinner?" I asked, trying to sound surprised, making an overly dramatic expression of disbelief.

Will rolled his eyes. "You're hilarious," he commented dryly, making his way down the steps, waiting for me to catch up.

"I know I am, no need to tell me," I threw back, trying not to pant, as my feet hit the ground.

"Okay, come on, hot shot," Will said. "I'm sure our siblings will think you're _hysterical_ when we're late for dinner." He started to make his way back to the Apollo cabin, but slower than his usual walking pace, so I could keep up.

I snorted before falling into step with him.

I looked over at my half-brother through the corners of my eyes as we walked. He did the same and smiled. I couldn't help but smile back.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a bit shorter than my usual, but I thought one flashback was enough for a chapter. Also, I know it's mostly exposition right now, but it's kind of like what I did for ITPS. Even though this is the same character, she's gone through so much and it's really changed her; so many things about herself and her life have _changed_ , so I feel I have to re-introduce you to her character. I hope you don't mind.
> 
> Oh, also, I forgot to include this last chapter, but I was wondering, if you guys would like, if you wanted me to post a short one-shot of Tori and Apollo interacting after Apollo is turned human again and gets to camp. Just because. I'm probably, most likely, definitely going to write Tori into the TOA series because having Apollo be her father just begs me to insert her. But this idea has been on my mind and I really wanted to write it and see what you thought. So tell me what you think, if you'd like! Or, you know, fave/follow the story if you haven't already, to tell me if you'd like the scene ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	5. Try Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **TRIGGER WARNING:** instance of physical abuse

Me, TJ (the satyr), and Viola (demigod) just managed to stumble across the border to camp just as the Colchis bull barreled toward us. When I say stumble, I mean we tripped over each other and went careening down the hill because we just barely managed to make it. Breathing hard and pushing away the prickling pain tingling throughout my body, I gathered my bearings and looked up the hill to the border, afraid it might not hold.

A few years back, Kronos convinced Luke to poison Thalia's pine tree, and therefore the magical border. Two Colchis bulls then attached camp and were able to break through our weakened border. Being attacked by this one brought back bad memories. So many bad memories.

Thankfully, because of the Golden Fleece, the border was stronger than ever. The bull simply bounced back, liked it'd hit a giant vertical-standing trampoline. It roared a few moments later before Peleus blew fire in what I assumed was its direction. It roared again, but the sounded soon faded and I figured it must've run away.

I let out a breath of relief that sounded strangely like a laugh and looked over at TJ, sitting next to me, who was also smiling and on the verge of laughter. I held out my hand and he side-fived it, swinging back and hitting the back of our hands before we fist-bumped, with an explosion of course.

Just then, Viola, who was next to TJ and still looking up at the barrier dazed, confused, with a hint of leftover panic and fear, with tear stains down her cheeks, started to glow. I blinked, trying to make sense of this.

No, _she_ wasn't glowing. Above her head was the bright, shining hologram of a lyre. I had to squint to be able to look at it.

Another child of Apollo. I had another half-sibling. I looked back down at the girl. How old was she? She couldn't have been more than ten. A small thing, she had the same complexion as me (so probably Latina, at least), with straight brown hair (almost like my mom's), and beautiful brown eyes.

I looked back up the hill. She'd almost been trampled by a giant bronze bull. I looked back at Viola, who was still dazed and scared, I could see more tears in her eyes by the light of the hologram. It was the same look all the demigods I went on missions to save had when we'd successfully—just barely—made it across the border. Only because I was there, attracting bigger, meaner monsters because of some stupid vendetta against me.

My emotions exploded like a firework in my chest. I felt them well up like a balloon to the point of pain.

Swallowing hard to keep them in check, I stood up and helped TJ up before we both helped Viola stand. We guided her to and inside the Big House. Chiron was waiting in his wheelchair, like he usually did with demigods just finding out what exactly they were and what being a demigod entailed.

We introduced Viola to her and Mr. D, as custom, before Chiron told TJ to show Viola the introduction video. She looked really unsure and scared again, but with a few calming words from Chiron, she took TJ's hand and they exited the Big House. TJ was also really good with kids. (Better than I would ever be.)

Chiron wheeled himself back to the table where Mr. D sat, waiting for my report. I had to guess it was because he liked to be here whenever he could when I had to interact with Mr. D for longer than a few minutes. I think he was worried I might say or do something that went against my punishment. If he was there, he could act as a mediator, a voice of reason and calm.

I kneeled as I came up to Mr. D, my emotions ready to burst. I fought to keep them under control. Losing it now would get me nowhere. In fact, it might just get me killed.

"My Lord," I greeted formally.

"At ease," Mr. D sighed in his bored tone.

"Permission to speak off topic for a moment, my lord?" I asked in a tight voice, straightening up from kneeling and meeting Mr. D's blue eyes. They were puffy like usual and he looked even less amused than usual.

The puffy eyes narrowed as he tried to decipher what I was thinking, what I was going to say, the way I'd asked the question, where the tension was coming from.

"Permission granted," he finally answered before taking a sip of his Diet Coke.

I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders, but kept at attention.

"I don't believe that sending me out to retrieve half-bloods is a reasonable thing to do anymore," I told him, looking straight ahead, at the wall instead of Mr. D.

There was silence for a long time. I tried not to stray my eyes from the spot on the wall I was focusing on. I could feel his eyes on me, though, burning a hole straight through my skull. Was it just me or were the prickles becoming more painful?

"Excuse me?" he asked in a deadly quiet voice. It seemed like everything in the room stopped moving. Even Chiron.

I let out a long, slow breath preparing myself for whatever was going to come next (also trying to push away the feeling of needles in my body). This wasn't something that I was going to back down on, no matter how much Mr. D and his suffocating vines scared me (another long story). These were half-blood's lives on the line.

Finally I looked at him, trying not to jolt when I met his gaze evenly, the purple fire igniting my worst memories—my mother being attack by a hellhound, being strapped down in a bed in the hospital's mental ward, finding out Luke was working for Kronos, finding out my brother was being held hostage and tortured by Kronos's army, Luke dying in my arms.

"I said," I started slowly and quietly. "I don't believe—"

"I know what you said," Mr. D snapped gripping his Diet Coke, turning more to face me. "Are you calling me _unreasonable_?"

"No, my lord," I said quickly, my heart pounding. "I merely meant—"

"I don't _care_ what you _meant_!" Mr. D snapped. I blinked quickly, my breaths coming more rapidly as I fought the urge to turn and run. Or worse, pull my sword. "This is your punishment for what you did during the Titan War, need I remind you. You are making a dangerous mistake with your insubordination."

I took a few deep breaths and fisted my shaking hands, the pins and needles becoming worse and worse. I was having trouble concentrating, but I forced my mind to focus.

I thought about how scared Viola had been. I thought of how scared all the half-bloods I'd helped bring back to camp had been, all the close calls. I remembered their parents claiming them as we got over Half-Blood Hill or at the camp sing-along that very same night. I was doing this for them, for their sake, for their _lives_.

I looked back down at Mr. D, coming out of my "at attention" stance.

"You're wrong," I told him in a low voice. His eyes widened in surprise before blazing with purple fire and if I didn't know any better I'd think they were that color and not the blue that I was used to. "I wasn't saying that you were being unreasonable. I was saying that you're being _stupid_ —"

"You dare—!" Mr. D started angrily, his voice hitting me like a ton of bricks just as Chiron warned quietly, "Tori," his voice coated with worry.

I ignored both of them, the first time I didn't flinch or wince at my nickname since Luke's death, and kept my glare on Mr. D as I shouted over him, "You would rather risk those innocent demigods' lives— _your children's lives_ —all to what? Teach me a lesson! Show me that I have no freedom anymore? That I'm your _slave_!" I snarled taking a step toward Mr. D. "I will _not_ —"

Mr. D moved so fast I didn't have time register much before pain exploded in my jaw. I let out a yelp and fell to the floor. For a moment things were a haze and my vision was blurry. There were two tall figures standing over me, but one was closer and glowing with a purple-ish light. I brought a hand to my aching, throbbing jaw and blinked hard to clear my vision.

When everything snapped back into focus I saw Mr. D looming over me, glaring down at me with a black expression. Even though he was in usual leopard-print garb and looked like he had a hangover, his expression made my heart skip a beat before going a mile a minute, not helping with the pain in my jaw. Not to mention the fact that I could feel vines crawling onto my body, wrapping around my legs, my waist, my chest, my arms, and my neck, pinning me to the floor. Slowly, they began to constrict.

Then, the needle pricks intensified to an unbearable level. I couldn't think of anything _but_ the pain throughout my whole body. I could barely breathe and I wasn't sure if it was because of the vines or because I was in _that_ much pain.

Through my haze, I think Chiron had come out of his wheelchair and was in full centaur from, but I really couldn't be sure. Every now and then, my vision would clear. He was looking at me with worry and helplessness.

Mr. D moved and I instinctively flinched away—or tried to anyway—but before he could actually do anything more thunder crashed outside, causing our camp director to pause. Now, when I say crashed, I mean it sounded like someone had just demolished an old building with explosives. It shook the whole house for a few seconds.

It broke me from the murky depths of pain for a moment enough that I thought for sure I was a gonner. That a blast of lightning was going to hit me and I'd be ashes, my soul forever to be tortured in the Fields of Punishment.

Instead, there was a tense silence as Mr. D glared down at me. But his eyes looked far away, like someone was speaking to him. The vines continues to constrict, slowly cutting off my circulation and worse, air supply. The pin-pricks stayed at their high level, slowly invading my thoughts again. If it weren't for the pain, I probably would've been full-blown panicking because of past memories of being constrained and suffocated with vines.

Chiron's worried eyes flickered back and forth from me to Mr. D, his horse half shifting nervously, tail swishing wildly. I tried not to start gasping and struggling on instinct. I had a sneaking suspicion if I fought against the vines, they'd only tighten their hold.

As my air supply lessoned, the stinging in my jaw become worse with each passing second. I could only feel it because it was a different sensation than my other pain. Finally Mr. D's eyes cleared and he focused his gaze back on me. The vines released and slithered away (I knew this because I could hear them slide across the wooden floors). The prickles lessoned so much that they were almost nonexistent compared to before. I let out a breath, and started to quietly gasp. I could feel my body trembling.

"You will _never_ speak to me like that again," Mr. D warned in a dark, quiet voice. I shifted my eyes up to him. "Do I make myself clear?" His eyes flashed with purple fire, daring me to challenge him. But I was done. I'd gotten to say what I had wanted and I could only fathom that Zeus had kept me alive because I had a point.

Slowly, carefully, I got into my kneeling position, just barely able to hold myself up.

"Yes, my Lord." I clenched my teeth as the pain flared in my mouth from speaking, but that only caused me more pain. I forced my teeth apart, but kept the yelps at bay. I held my kneeling position, waiting for Mr. D to speak, keeping my head bowed.

"You are dismissed," he finally said as I heard him sit back down.

I quickly kneeled for our activities director, murmuring, "Chiron." though it caused me more pain. With one hand covering my mouth, not just because of the pain, I quickly stood and exited the Big House.

I would've sprinted to the Apollo cabin, but I was still dizzy with relief. The prickles were still there, as they had been since I was cleared to be "fully" recovered, but they were a dull roar now. I could ignore them.

Will was waiting for me and stood from his bunk as soon as I came in. I ignored him and made my way straight to the bathroom, slamming the door and locking it behind me. I leaned heavily against it, holding back my sobs and trying not to clench my teeth. The pain in my jaw only seemed to increase as I felt tears burn my eyes. I was still shaking. I could feel a panic attack coming on.

Will was knocking frantically on the door, asking me what was wrong, what happened, to let him in. I refused. He was already worried about me. I didn't need him to worry about me more. Also, if he found out Mr. D had been the one who did this, I was afraid he was going to get himself and possibly the whole cabin in trouble, trying to interfere. Thankfully, these thoughts miraculously distracted me from my rapidly beating heart.

Taking careful, deep breaths, I could feel the panic subsiding.

After a few minutes my half-brother stopped knocking. I relaxed, thinking he'd gone away, but I should have known better. This was Will.

"I'll break the door down if I have to," I heard his muffled voice say.

I pulled away from the door, going to lean against the counter, watching the door carefully.

"You wouldn't," I said, despite the pain it caused me.

"Try me," his reply came. He could have been bluffing, but I was afraid if he was serious he'd injure himself trying to break the door down.

Gritting my teeth, then wincing and letting my jaw go slack as pain pulsed in my jaw and radiated out through my head. As my pricks also flared up, I went to the door and unlocked it before going to lean against the counter again. Ugh, moving was becoming a real task. The dull roar of pain was starting to grow into more than something I could ignore so easily.

Will turned the knob slowly and poked his head in. When it was clear there was no immediate threat or danger, he slipped inside, closing the door behind him. His blue eyes were crystals, refracting the light in a kaleidoscope of emotions—worry, confusion, caution, and a hint of anger.

"What happened to your jaw?" he asked quietly, staying by the door.

"The mission," I managed, my hand coming up to cradle it. I tried to play off my pain, but Will could sense my injury and how bad it was, so it wasn't like there was any use in doing so.

"You did _not_ have that injury when you came back from the mission," he commented, calling me out on my lie.

I opened my mouth to reply, but Will silenced me with a glare. He'd been keeping _way_ closer tabs on me than I'd realized.

"If it hurts, stop talking," he ordered in a clipped tone. "Sit. I'll get some nectar to help that."

The thing about Will was he could calm down a room full of angry, agitated, or scared people with just his voice. But he could also be a brick wall when he wanted to, especially with his more stubborn (hi) patients.

And it wasn't just that. He was very protective of his siblings.

I glared at his back as he went to the large cabinet where we kept extra medical supplies in the bathroom. Just in case. Our personal supply, away from either infirmaries.

Slowly removing my hand from my aching jaw, I pushed myself up onto the counter. (Mistake, for the pricks in my body did _not_ appreciate that.) Will came over a second later with nectar in a small glass with a straw. He set the glass down before gently cradling my head with one hand, the other going to prod at my jaw.

I winced and pulled away when he hit a particularly sore spot.

"Sorry, sorry," he muttered, fingertips slowly going back to my jaw, his other hand tightening its grip on my head. His eyes were narrowed in concentration as he stared at my mouth. After a few more painful prods he pulled away. His eyes swirled with strong emotion, but I couldn't decipher what he was feeling.

"Might be broken. Just a hairline fracture, but still…" He trailed off, his eyes distant as he thought, and grabbed the glass of nectar.

He held the glass for me as I painfully opened my mouth and wrapped my lips around the straw. This time it tasted like my mom's fish and chips.

The pain lessoned, but didn't go away, much to my disappointment. However, like it usually did, the pin-pricks subsided to the point they'd gone away. I knew this wouldn't last, because we'd tried nectar and ambrosia. It only got rid of the pain for a time, then they'd return. It was really starting to concern me. I could barely handle what the Fates were throwing at me now, with this added issue, I wasn't sure how'd I be able to _function_.

Will set the glass down again. I was about to hop off the counter and thank him, figuring that was the best he could do, but he stopped me with one of his looks.

"I'm not done yet," he said before holding my head again, cupping one of his hands over my injured jaw. He closed his eyes and started to sing—a hymn to Apollo.

Slowly, the pain started to fade altogether. When Will pulled away again, he looked pale and about ready to collapse (he'd probably come back from a particularly physically exhausting activity or from healing someone else with magic). But he managed to keep on his feet.

"How's your…other, um, pain?" he asked, his words slightly slurring.

I watched him carefully for a moment before answering, "Still hasn't gone away," I reported in a quiet voice.

Will's eyebrows furrowed with worry and…pity? "I've been looking into this." Uh oh, that was never a good sign.

I looked away, gripping the edge of the counter. Unwanted tears filled my eyes. "It's…never going to go away, is it?" My voice was thick, but quiet, defeated.

Will didn't answer. I closed my eyes, trying my hardest not to let my tears fall. The Fates cruelty knew no bounds.

I finally looked back up at Will, about to say thank you just in time to see his knees buckle. I had just enough time to slide off the counter and reach out to catch him. I was thankful that the nectar seemed to get rid of my pricks entirely at least.

"You need to stop pushing yourself so hard," I scolded, blinking away my tears and supporting him as we exiting the bathroom, steering him back toward the main part of the cabin, specifically his bed. I was also pleasantly happy to find that speaking no longer caused me pain.

"You were hurt," he mumbled.

"Nothing I couldn't handle," I muttered, helping him into his bed, throwing the covers over him. "Get some sleep." I ordered before turning to exit, only I felt something pull at my shirt.

I stopped and turned slightly, annoyed, a glare and another scolding ready for my half-sibling, but the words died in my throat when I met his eyes. My gaze strayed down to my shirt to see that it was his hand that was grabbing at the hem. Despite how tired he was, his eyes were alight with a fierce, protective fire.

"Don't think I'm going to let you off the hook so easily," he warned. "You're going to tell me how you ended up with a fracture jaw." Will's hand slipped from my shirt. He pulled his arm back under the covers, closing his eyes, and rolling over. It wasn't even a second after did he start snoring.

* * *

I trudged back to the Apollo cabin, dreading what was coming next. Will had slept until dinnertime. Because he didn't want to start a scene he didn't confront me then. Then there was the sing-along, and because our cabin led that, he had no time. But now I couldn't avoid it any longer. There was nothing to hide behind, nowhere to run, no activities to keep him occupied.

The pin-pricks had returned. My brain, by this point, had started to get used to them. But sometimes, if I moved wrong, they'd flare up. Sometimes, they'd flare up for no reason. And now that I knew this wasn't something that could be healed with even magic, I really didn't know what to do…what to think.

Viola seemed to be settling in all right. Because we'd made it camp late afternoon, she hadn't had a chance to see her cabin until now. I wasn't looking forward to that, either because whenever we got a new sibling they always asked about the swear they had to make on the Styx regarding me, and the state of our bathroom. But I had to focus on one thing at a time. The more pressing matter at hand was Will.

I was the last one to arrive to the cabin. I slipped inside and closed the door quietly, pretending I didn't know Will was going to approach me. I barely took two steps away from the door before Will was there, standing in front of me like a literal brick wall.

He was quite a bit younger than me (15 compared to my age of 22), but he'd inherited tall genes, so he was a few inches taller than me. The rest of our siblings were preparing for bed, but shooting us glances and slowly coming to a stop, wanting to know what was up.

Will and I had a staring contest. He stood, shoulders back, arms crossed over his chest and was glaring at me. I stood, shoulders back, chin up, meeting his glare with my own. Despite him being head counselor, I was still his senior age-wise, and I had a lot more experience on my belt.

I appreciated that he cared, but I was afraid that was going to be the very thing that was going to get him into trouble. This punishment was meant for me to make up my past transgressions, I didn't want anything brought onto my siblings for my mistakes.

"Let's not do this," I whispered. "Not now. Not tonight." Our siblings were starting to gather around, now, murmuring to each other.

Will's glare didn't lesson. "I've had all night to think about this, Tori." I glowered at him for the use of my nickname, wincing as I did so, probably ruining the impact of my glare.

"Oh?" I asked challengingly.

"You came back from the Big House with that injury," Will said. Panic shot through me like I'd been struck by lightning. My heart pounded in my chest. I tried not to let this show as Will continued. "Now I know, for sure, Chiron would never hit any of us. But Mr. D"—there were small gasps from the rest of our siblings, the murmuring stopped; it became deadly silent in our cabin—"he's a god. You've also got that contract with him." He stopped there, wanting me to say it.

I refused. "It's not a big deal, Will—" I tried.

"Not a big deal—he hit you!" Will snapped. I took a step back warily, my hands automatically going for my sword. I knew Will wasn't going to hurt me, and that he wasn't a threat, but I'd lived on a cruise ship with monsters who liked to attack you for _two years_. I developed an overactive alarm system, so now anytime my brain detected a threat, or a perceived threat, in the environment, I reacted instinctively and automatically.

Will's eyes flickered to my hands and he stepped back, his hands furling and unfurling at his sides. His breathing was uneven. But he understood why I'd gone for my sword, all my siblings did. I'm pretty sure everyone at camp knew not to startle or sneak up on me.

"He hit you," Will repeated, his blue eyes sparking with anger and worry. "He could've done more damage than just a fractured jaw."

"But he didn't," I said in a cold voice to mask my fear. "He hasn't hit me up until this point, so he probably won't do it again. Besides, it was my fault—"

"Don't you dare say that." My wide eyes went to Kayla, who stepped away from the group, coming to stand next to Will. She'd been the one who had spoken. "Anyone hitting you is never your fault. Don't ever think about it like that."

"I stepped out of line—" I tried again.

"There are more ways to punish someone than physically injuring them," Kayla interrupted.

I looked back and forth between her and Will, then did a sweep of all my siblings. They all looked ready to storm the Big House and confront Mr. D. Exactly the opposite of what I'd wanted to happen. All except Viola, she was standing behind Austin's legs, peeking up at me with wide, scared eyes, not sure exactly _what_ was going on. Poor kid.

I blinked, focusing back on the group and held up my hands, letting my desperation show, "Guys, it's not a big deal. It was a one-time thing. Please, just leave it alone."

"How can you be sure this won't happen again?" Cressida demanded. "As soon as he realizes he can hit you without any repercussions, he'll be more inclined to do it again."

"Please," I begged. "He's a god. I don't want you to get into trouble for me."

"This is our decision, too," Will said. "We're you're brothers and sisters, we want to help you."

"If it happens again, then I'll let you do something about it, but right now, I just want to move past this. Just let it go. Please." I looked at them, meeting their gazes, silently begging them to move one.

They seemed reluctant, but finally Will spoke again "Fine. Just this once. But if he hits you again, or so much as threatens you with physical harm, we're doing something about it. I don't care if we have to go to Olympus, I'm not going to stand for this."

I relaxed slightly, grateful. "Thank you."

Will gave me a concerned look, his eyebrows furrowing slightly before starting to turn away. "All right, it's almost light out!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so another chapter. More heavy stuff…I promise I'll try to insert more less-heavy stuff. Try. Heh. Well, anyway. Not much to say for notes.
> 
> Um, I wrote that one-shot with Tori and Apollo, so if you want to go check that out—if you haven't already, because shameless self-promotion—it's titled, The Woods are Lovely, Dark and Deep (taken from Robert Frost's poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening").
> 
> I've tentatively started a posting schedule, so the next chapter should be here by Wednesday for ya'll.
> 
> As always, hope you enjoy!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	6. Duty Calls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about that, guys. I totally had a plan for this chapter and then couldn't find the time to write it out before Wednesday came.
> 
> But, behold, here it is.

I woke to pain.

That was the first thing that always invaded my mind when I woke. I wondered if my brain would ever get used to it and there would come a day where I would wake up and my first thoughts wouldn't be "ow." Or maybe, more likely, I would just become used to waking up with my first thoughts being "ow." Either way, I felt like my world had shifted slightly on its axis with yesterday's revelation.

It wasn't enough to jar me completely, but it was like I'd gone off on some vacation and while I was away someone broke into my house and moved all my furniture five inches to the right. It wasn't enough that I noticed a difference, but it was enough that I was stumbling around my house, crashing into things because my brain was so used to the original layout. Now I was trying, desperately, how to figure out how to navigate this new set-up, being utterly unable to move my furniture back.

Of course, the pain was _very_ noticeable. As the day wore on, it faded into the background, but it was ever-present. Not unlike the aching hollowness I felt in my chest.

Chronic pain, Will had told me last night, as everyone was getting ready for lights out.

For once, I was so focused on something else, that I didn't have time to question who I was or my beliefs, because I'd also just woken up from another nightmare. It was probably 2 or 3 in the morning, so I didn't expect anyone to be up. But as I struggled to sit up, gritting my teeth as the prickles flared up, I noticed the lights were on in our cabin. How I hadn't noticed that as soon as I'd opened my eyes was a bit miffing.

I looked around and saw that most of my siblings were also awake. Well, I say awake. The one's who weren't conked-out, snoring in their bunks looked like listless zombies who'd lost the will to go after their food source. Half of them were sitting on the edges of their beds, but the other half were gathered around someone's bunk.

"What's going on?" I asked to no one in particular. My voice sounded so loud in such a quiet room, in the dead of night.

Will shuffled over to me, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He plopped down on the edge of my bed.

"Viola can't sleep," he mumbled tiredly. "We've tried everything. Warm milk. A midnight snack. Lullabies." Will sighed. "Bad dreams. She doesn't want to go to sleep."

I looked from Will over to her bunk again. Some of my siblings had shifted and I could see her lying in her bed. She looked _exhausted_ , and her cheeks were stained with tears, but her eyes were wide open, brimming with more tears.

"Hey," I said softly to Will who'd started to doze. Blinking he straightened up and looked over at me. "Can you get me a warm washcloth?" I asked. Will gave me a questioning look but nodded and stood, shuffling off to get what I'd asked.

I threw the covers off me and stood—bad decision, my body didn't like that—and started over to Viola's bed. I gently rested a hand on Cressida's shoulder. She jumped and looked up at me. I gave her a small smile and nodded, telling her to let me give it a try. Cressida moved aside without protest, yawning and going over to her bunk. My other siblings gave me a little space as I sat down on the edge of Viola's bed.

I slowly reached forward and brushed some hair from her forehead.

"Hey, sweetheart," I said quietly. "Can't sleep?" I asked.

Viola sniffled. "Bad dreams," she answered just as quiet. I felt someone nudge my arm and looked to see Will with a wet washcloth in his hand.

"Thank you," I said, taking the washcloth from him and turning back to Viola. "Can you sit up for me, sweetie?"

Viola nodded before slowly sitting up, sniffling again. I, then, gently wiped her tears-stained cheeks and the rest of her face. At this point, I was accessing everything my mom had ever done for me when I'd had nightmares and didn't want to go back to sleep. This was the only reason I was even trying to help. I barely had people skills with others my age, children were an absolute mystery to me.

I handed the cloth back to will and took Viola's hand. "Could you grab me a blanket, Will?" I requested as I did so. Will nodded and went off again. I turned back to Viola.

"Do you like dragons?" I asked. Despite the bags under her eyes, they brightened up. She nodded her head rigorously. "Why don't we take a fieldtrip? Would you like that?"

"Okay," Viola agreed with a grin.

Right on time, Will returned. I thanked him and took the blanket before draping it over Viola's shoulders.

"Okay, come on, sweetie," I said, wrapping my arms around her. She automatically put her arms around my neck. I carefully stood up so as to not hit my head or Viola's head on the top bunk. I stumbled a bit, my body protesting at carrying extra weight. I let out a breath of surprise, but gripped Viola tighter to me, determined not to drop her.

Will gave me a worried look.

"I'll be fine," I murmured, pain lacing my voice despite my reassurance. Thing was, I was stubborn as fuck. "I'll be fine." I repeated in a firmer tone, glaring at my half-brother, who sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. I turned away from him and patted Viola's back. "Come on, let's go."

As we exited the cabin, I looked around the green for any signs of harpies. All was quiet, with the hearth in the middle of the U part of the Ω burned and crackled as it always did, chasing away the chill of winter. Still, I could see my breath condense in the air as I breathed.

I made my way down the steps of the porch. Viola looked around, up at the sky.

"Aren't we breaking camp rules?" Viola asked, pulling back to look at me.

I smiled with a mischievous edge. "Yes. But don't tell Chiron. It has to be a secret, okay?"

Viola nodded, looking dead serious.

I continued across the green toward Half-Blood Hill, where Thalia's tree was, along with our guard dragon, dozing away. As we got closer, Viola got more excited. Her breathing hitched, her eyes widened and glowed in the moonlight with excitement, but also nervousness. I really couldn't blame her, Peleus was a dragon after all. Not only was he a huge beast, but he also breathed fire and was, up until now, a mythical creature in Viola's mind.

Despite my body screaming in agony, I carried her all the way up to the crest of the hill before setting her down a few feet away from Peleus. I leaned on my knees, however, panting and bowing my head so Viola wouldn't see my pained expression. I took too long, though. I felt a small hand grab the cuff of my sleeve and gently tug.

"Are you okay?" Viola asked softly.

I took a deep breath, reined in my pain and lifted my head, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I managed. "Come on." I took her hand and started leading her over to Peleus who opened his eyes as we came closer. He snorted smoke into the air and shifted a bit, causing the ground to shake. Viola paused, catching her breath. Her grip on my hand tightened.

I stopped, kneeled down next to her, and looked over at her. "It's okay," I promised. "Here, watch." I faced Peleus and held out my hand. "Hey, Peleus. How are you this evening?"

Peleus snorted again before stretching his head forward, bringing it underneath my hand, letting me pet his nose. I smiled and looked at Viola again.

"See?"

Viola's wide eyes turned back to Peleus as I stood and guided her forward, closer to the dragon.

"Peleus, this is Viola, can she say hi?" I asked before carefully and slowly, I lifted the hand that was still in mine. Peleus adjusted, lowering his snout. I rested Viola's hand on his nose before slowly pulling away. After a few seconds of this, she looked up at me with an open-mouthed grin. I couldn't help but smile back.

"All right," I said, lifting Viola back into my arms. "Why don't I sing you guys a song, huh?"

"I'd like that, just like my mommy," Viola responded as Peleus blew more smoke before nudging me with his snout.

I chuckled before going closer to Peleus who was getting comfortable. Once he'd finally rested his head down again, I carefully sat down and leaned against his neck. Viola sat in my lap, her head resting in the crook of my neck. She pulled the blanket around her tighter as her got comfortable, and I put my arms loosely around her.

"Do you have a favorite song that you'd like me to sing?" I queried.

"Um…there's one," she told me quietly, pulling away so she could look up at me. I waited. "By Taylor Swift. It just recently came out. I don't know if you'd know it. TJ told me that demigods don't use electronics because they attract monsters."

"I'll let you in another secret," I said with a smile. "I had some children from the Hecate cabin enchant an old MP3 player so I could listen to music and get radio stations. Let me guess…'Love Story'?"

Viola nodded before ducking her head back into the crook of my neck. "A lot of people make fun of me for liking her," she mumbled.

I stroked her hair. "I actually think that song is quite sweet." I assured. Though, if I was being honest, it also made the ache in my chest increase tenfold. Such an easy love, with a happy ending.

I felt Peleus rumble.

"Sorry, buddy, Viola's choice trumps yours tonight," I laughed. He grumbled again, blowing smoke from his nose, but seemed to resign himself to the song.

I looked up at the night sky and took a deep breath before I started to softly sing.

Will was still awake when I returned to the cabin with a snoring Viola in my arms, everyone else had gone back to bed.

"Go to sleep!" I mouthed, giving him a disapproving look. He ignored me, standing and coming over to me as I gently set Viola back into her bunk and pulled the covers over her.

"I wanted to make sure you two were all right," Will whispered to me as I did this.

I knew that was code for just me, he wanted to know if _I_ was going to be all right. I glared at him when I'd finished pulling the blankets up. " _We're_ perfectly fine," I responded in a cold whisper.

I went back to my own bunk but Will followed. I plopped down on the edge of the bed and opened my mouth to tell him to go the fuck to sleep, but he beat me to speaking.

"She asked about the mirrors," he said, looking at me solemnly.

I looked away, gripping the blanket under my hands. The ache in my chest intensified and my eyes flooded with tears. My demons rattled in their cage, snarling and growling. I gritted my teeth and swallowed hard. You'd think I'd have gotten over it by now. Then again, it had only been a few months since the incident.

"Tell her," I finally managed, keeping my eyes downcast. "I…I can't. I don't—" I broke off realizing I didn't want to reveal that to Will.

"You don't…what?" he asked anyway.

I shook my head. _I don't want to know what she thinks of me after you tell her._ I wanted to tell him, instead I looked back up at my half-brother and said, "Go to sleep, Will."

He looked at me for a long moment before turning and making his way back to his bunk. Our eyes met one more time as he sat down, then he fell back onto his pillows and rolled over. I let out a quiet breath, lying down on my own pillows and pulling my blankets up to my chin. I didn't want to go back to sleep in fear of having another dream about the horrors Luke had committed, but I was also more exhausted than I realized. I was out as soon as my eyes slid closed.

It wasn't Luke I saw this time, though. What Will told me invaded my mind reminding me why our bathroom was the way it was and would probably stay like that until I left Camp—for one reason or another.

My second mission ever since having become Mr. D's PA.

It was probably the only time Mr. D had ever been so vague about an assignment. All he'd told me was that Argus was going to drive me somewhere on the west side of Lower Manhattan, and I'd know what to do once I was there.

I was irritated that Mr. D only gave me the bare minimum of information because I didn't know how to prepare—which weapons should I take, would I need a bow and arrow or would just my sword and dagger suffice? It wasn't like I had much of a choice, though. If I asked him to give me more information, he'd probably just smite me, thinking I was trying to talk back to him. And I only had a limited amount of time to do whatever this task was, so it was better if I went sooner rather than later.

In the end, I decided to just take my sword and dagger. Argus seemed really uncomfortable as I approached the van. He wouldn't meet my eyes and his aura exuded something that felt like sorrow or perhaps resentment. Maybe both? I couldn't really tell. It wasn't like I could ask him, either, because he didn't usually talk that often. This didn't help my already growing suspicions about this assignment.

The ride was silent, as usual, but this silence was suffocating. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I felt Argus's eyes on me, but whenever I went to look at him, his eyes were on the road. Any other eyes he may have had on me had vanished, closed, blending back into his body.

Finally, we arrived at wherever we needed to be. Argus stopped on the curb in front of a house in the Village. I didn't recognize the house, but it must have had some significance if Argus had stopped us here. This must've been where he was supposed to take me.

I slid over to the other side of the car and opened the door. I glanced back at him and noticed him gripping the steering wheel so tight, his knuckles were turning white. I instantly went into high alert, my heartrate increasing with each passing second. My hand itched to grab my sword and unsheathe it. Was there some kind of monster residing inside the residence of this house? Was I supposed to dispose of it? That seemed a bit strange, why would Mr. D care?

Swallowing hard, I stepped out of the car, slamming the door closed behind me, looking up at the house looming before me. With a deep breath, I approached slowly, making my way up the steps to the front door woodenly. I jumped and looked back when I heard another car door slam. It was only Argus, who'd exited and was now standing next to the passenger's side door on the sidewalk out of the way of pedestrians. He still wouldn't meet my eyes.

When I got to the front door, I looked back at Argus and pointed to the door. He nodded and mimed knocking. I looked at him a moment longer but he averted his gaze.

My heart pounding in my throat, I turned back toward the door and knocked. Holding my breath, I waited. I heard footsteps approach the door, then it swung open. Before me stood a man.

It wasn't that he was a pretty ordinary-looking man that made my throat close up or my heart stop. It wasn't the fact that he was probably in his mid-forties with wire-rimmed glasses that made my hands shake. It wasn't that despite his t-shirt and jeans that looked a bit disheveled and his clear lack of sleep that he still looked quite young and handsome that had me wanting to turn and run in the other direction.

No, it was his shortish, wavy dark brown hair and blue eyes. It was the shape his jaw and chin, his nose, and eyes.

Silena Beauregard looked just like her father.

"May I…help you?" he asked.

It was like a hand was closing around my throat, something was sitting on my chest. My hands were shaking so badly, not even fisting them could get them to stop. My head swam from the lack of oxygen, but I refused to have a panic attack in front of Mr. Beauregard.

Without answering him, I turned toward Argus again with a silent question. For the first time today, Argus met my eyes, his full of sorrow. He nodded once before looking down, as if to say, "I'm sorry."

So was I.

I closed my eyes and tried to take a full breath in before I turned back to Mr. Beauregard.

"Are you from Camp?" the man asked before I could speak. Just as well, though, my throat still felt like it'd swollen shut. All I could do was nod. I saw the despair, grief, and utter sadness fill his eyes. The hole in my chest grew, the cage rattled so violently I thought for sure it'd break.

_My fault._

"She's…not coming back," Mr. Beauregard finally asked quietly. "Is she?"

I shook my head.

Silena's father looked away, taking off his glasses and furiously rubbing his eyes. My own eyes filled with tears, but I blinked rapidly to dispel them. Fortunately for me, it was easier than I thought it was going to be because sudden rage welled up inside me, hatred toward Mr. D, the gods, for making me do this. The heat from my sudden resentment evaporated my tears.

Finally, Mr. Beauregard looked back at me, opening the door wider and gesturing inside. "Would you…would you like to come in for a moment? Camp is kind of far. Maybe you'd like a glass of water or-or something for the road?"

I wanted to tell him I really needed to leave, but I met his eyes and realized how much he might need someone right now. Even if I couldn't stay forever, being alone wasn't an option for him. I just hoped he'd be all right after I left. My anger sobered up quickly.

I took a deep, shaky breath. "Sure. That's very kind of you, thank you."

He stepped aside and I stepped in, waiting on the threshold as he closed the door. He then led me into the small living room. It had a white sofa up against the wall to my left, a coffee table in front of that and a matching armchair adjacent to the couch. Windows behind the couch and chair lighted the room with the natural light. The wall on my right held paintings interspersed with photographs of him and Silena. It broke my heart to look at them for too long, so I kept my eyes down.

"Would you like something to drink?" he asked, walking past me to, I assumed, the kitchen door.

"Um…just water is fine, thanks," I mumbled.

"Please, make yourself at home." He exited the living room and I sidled over to the armchair, sitting on the very edge. I wrung my hands, wondering what I should say, what I should do. I had just told him his daughter was dead. How was I supposed to comfort him? I was barely handling…Luke's death, how was I supposed to help another person handle their own personal death?

Mr. Beauregard returned with a glass of water and set it down on the coffee table before taking a seat in the middle of the sofa, angling himself toward me.

I didn't touch the glass, despite how dry my mouth felt.

"She was a brave person," I finally blurted, not able to stand the silence. "Silena. I didn't know her very well, but we…we became close these past few months. She was also very kind, one of the sweetest, kindest people at camp."

Mr. Beauregard's eyes filled with tears again and I instantly regretted speaking at all. But he smiled, taking his glasses off and wiping his eyes. "That sounds like Silena," he whispered in a ragged voice.

"She— I just want you to know that she died protecting her friends. Protecting you." It was becoming harder and harder to speak. It felt like my tongue was swelling in my mouth, choking me.

"How…how did she die?"

I shook my head. "You don't…I don't—"

"Please," he pleaded, meeting my eyes. "I want to know…please."

"Poison," I answered quietly. "To the face. She was…fighting a drakon." I looked away and fisted my hands. "One of the rarest, deadliest monsters."

There was a beat of silence, then, "That's my girl."

I looked back at Mr. Beauregard at this. He had a pained, but wistful smile on his face, tears still brimming his eyes. My heart beat against my ribcage like an icepick being hammered into my chest. The guilt, the weight of Silena's death—all the deaths leading up to and during the Second Titan War—fell down on me like the weight of the sky.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, more tears filling my eyes.

"Thank you for telling me." He met my eyes and I could see the sincerity in his eyes.

I swallowed the sobs building in my throat. I needed to get out of her before I completely broke.

"You have…you have someone you can call?" I stammered, wanting to make sure he'd be okay. I wasn't about to abandon him, even if I did break here and now. I _couldn't_ , not after what I'd done, the damage I'd caused.

Mr. Beauregard gave me a kindly smile. "Yes, I do."

"Okay, I'll…I have to be going now," I stuttered as I stood. "If you need anything…" I started, but broke off because I really wasn't sure _what_ it was I could offer. He didn't even know me. All he knew was that his daughter and I had attended the same camp.

"Thank you, I appreciate it." He stood, too. "But I'll be fine."

I nodded, afraid if I said anything more I'd break completely and start sobbing. Then I stared toward the front door, which was in my line of sight. I really hoped I didn't look like I was too eager or about to fall apart, but at the time I didn't care. All I knew was I needed to leave before my emotional state got worse. Being around the father of someone I knew whose death I could have prevented was crushing me.

"Will you?"

I froze at the door, my hand gripping the knob. My breath was now coming out in quiet gasps. I turned to look at Mr. Beauregard, who was standing where I'd last left him, behind the coffee table but in front of the sofa where he'd been sitting.

"W-what?" I breathed.

Silena's father furrowed his eyebrows. "I didn't say anything." He seemed to suddenly notice how riled up I was. "Are you all right. Are you sure you want to leave?"

"I'll be fine," I assured, turning back to the door and struggling to get it open. "Someone drove me here." I finally managed to pull it open and I stumbled out. Mr. Beauregard was right behind me.

"Are you sure?" he asked, worry filling his voice. And I suddenly saw where Silena had gotten her kindness from. He'd just found out he'd lost his daughter and here he was trying to make sure _I_ was okay.

I paused on the third step from the sidewalk, swallowed hard, took a deep breath and pushed away the guilt if only for this moment. I turned to face Mr. Beauregard.

"I'm okay," I assured in a much stronger voice. "I appreciate your concern. I have to get back to camp, anyway. Duty calls."

He didn't look quite convinced, but he nodded and stepped back into his house, holding the door open. "At least tell me your name before you go?" he asked.

I blinked, shocked I hadn't even introduced myself.

"Victoria," I said. "Victoria Williams." With that I turned and got back into the van. Argus was waiting in the driver's seat. As soon as the door closed, Argus started the van up and pulled away from the curb. I thought for sure I'd break down, now that we were away from Mr. Beauregard's place, but a numbness had settled over me again. It was the very same numbness that I'd felt after Luke had died. It sucked all the feeling, all the emotion right from my body, leaving nothing but emptiness.

It stayed the whole ride back to Camp, but just when I needed it most, it vanished like mist in the midday sun as soon as I stepped into the Big House to give my report to Mr. D. All the emotions I'd felt today welled up inside me, mixing into a deadly cocktail or anger, rage, guilt, sorrow, and pure pain. I fought to hold it back as I approached Mr. D and kneeled. It took all I had to give my report without completely breaking or strangling the wine god.

Once Mr. D had mercifully dismissed me, I made my way to the exit. As soon as it slammed closed, I was sprinting to the Apollo cabin. I didn't even pause when I got inside, making my way straight to the bathroom, slamming the door and locking it.

I managed to hold it together for about three seconds, leaning heavily against the closed door.

Then, I _screamed_.

And when I had expelled as much air as I possibly could, a sob quickly followed. I covered my mouth to try and keep it from escaping but more bubbled up until I could no longer control it.

I felt the hole in my chest expand as it started to slowly split me in two. I slid down to the floor and curled up into a ball, hugging myself to keep from tearing apart. I couldn't breathe through my sobs, tears streamed down my face. I felt the vibrations of fists, probably, against the door, but I was completely lost in my sorrow, my grief, my pain.

At one point, I looked up, at the mirror in front of me. Big mistake. Silena Beauregard's face stared back, only half was burned beyond recognition because of the poison the drakon had sprayed at her. Before I knew what was happening another guttural scream ripped through me; I blinked and suddenly I was standing in front of a shattered mirror. Cracks like a spider's web decorated it.

My eyes flickered to the mirror next to me and Silena's face appeared again. That's when I completely lost it. I don't remember screaming more or smashing all the reflective surfaces in the bathroom, but I do remember seeing the faces of all those who had died in the events that led up to the Second Titan War and those who had died during. I do remember afterward—my sore vocal chords, my bruised and bloody knuckles.

I remember the door cracking, splintering, and my siblings rushing in. I remember a blanket being thrown over my shoulders before being pulled to my feet and led out of the bathroom. I remember the ambrosia I was fed.

I remember the hollowness.

The hole inside me hadn't ripped me in two. It had _consumed_ me, leaving nothing behind.

No one knew what had happened, why I had done what I'd done. And I wasn't talking. They tried speaking to me, but I only gazed back at them with a blank stare. I don't remember how long I sat on the edge of my bunk, leaning against the leg that held up the top bunk as they cleaned up the mess in the bathroom, tried to talk to me again before giving up.

Eventually, I remember Dan appearing. He sat down next to me. He also tried to talk to me. When he realized I wasn't going to talk, he put his arm around me and pulled me into him. I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, marveled at his warmth. He always ran warmer than I did, and it was always comforting to me. It was like a small flame on a single candle that ignited in my stomach, slowly warming me, filling up the hollowness. It didn't make it disappear, but it lessoned the empty feeling.

The mirrors were easily repaired, but as soon as I entered the bathroom and caught a glimpse of the mirrors, I'd stumbled out and had a panic attack. Afterward, Will had the bathroom renovated. He asked some of the Hephaestus kids to set the mirrors in the wall about half an inch. Then, they made "doors" to cover them up. So they looked like inset medicine cabinets, but behind the door was the mirror instead of the usual things you'd find inside a medicine cabinet. It was done so that the rest of my siblings could use the mirrors, but I didn't have to see them when I used the bathroom.

"I saw them," I finally said to my siblings who were sitting in their bunks, eyes on me and Dan, breaking the silence that'd built up in the cabin. It was like someone had opened a window and a gust of cold air had blown through a sauna.

Dan rubbed my arm. "Shh, shh, you don't need to tell us."

"Clara, and Thomas," I mumbled, ignoring him. He continued to rub my arm. "Caster, Lee. Aaron, Melody, and Alex." I was getting worked up now, more tears filled my eyes. I was glad the ambrosia had repaired my vocal chords because if I started sobbing again, I probably wouldn't be able to talk for a few days afterward.

"Shh, shh, you don't—" Dan tried again.

I gripped the blanket around me tighter, my voice dropping to a whisper. "Silena. Beckendorf. Michael."

"Tori—"

I flinched and pulled the blanket even tighter. "That wasn't even the worst part," I said in a shaking, watery voice. I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut tight, tears spilling from the corners. Dan stopped rubbing my arm. I felt the whole cabin take a breath in and hold it. "The worst part…I saw myself." I swallowed hard, gritted my teeth. "And I couldn't recognize the person who looked back at me."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, that took a bit, but I finally got it to you. More angst for Tori. Poor Tori. (But also…I'm really not that sorry.) Anyway, no telling when the next chapter will be because I'm not really sure what I'm going to have in it yet.
> 
> As always, hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	7. Somewhere to Stand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last, I have returned.

"You're taking a bow and arrows to Dan's performance?" Will asked.

I was currently trying to decide where to put my dagger. It seemed pointless to put it its sheath at my ankle since the monsters seemed to know about it now.

"You can never be too careful," I said. "Especially with my luck." I added with a mutter.

Will rolled his eyes. The rest of our siblings had just left for dinner. Will was hanging back, seeing me off, as he usually did. Getting onto Mr. D's good side was a hard thing to do, partly because I was convinced he didn't _have_ a good side when it came to me, the other part because I'd confronted him about me going on demigod rescue missions. However, because I'd managed to finish all my chores in a timely manner and successfully retrieve whatever item he'd "lost" in the Underworld thus, he was allowing me to go to Dan's performance at his college.

I suppose I can't complain too much, because he'd allowed me to go to all of Dan's performances since the beginning of my punishment. If Dan sent comp tickets, I was allowed to go. I couldn't exactly understand it, but I was secretly grateful all the same. The gods had taken everything from me. I wasn't about to lose my brother, too.

Anyway, the production that his college was putting on currently had been a student-written thing based on, ironically enough, Greek mythology. It was titled Somewhere to Stand. (I'd learn from the program that the student who'd written it, Israel, named it after part of a Greek quote that he'd also based the play on: "Give me somewhere to stand, and I will move the earth.")

Dan, of course, was one of the main leads, a character named Endymion. Although it wasn't using any Greek myth I'd read about during my whole time at camp (most likely made up, then), the play took place in—surprise, surprise—Ancient Greece with a handful of Olympians as characters as well. It was cringe-worthy, but also kind of hilarious.

My half-brother straightened up from leaning against the side of my bunk. "And, um, how's your…pain?"

I met his eyes, my hands stopping their fiddling with my dagger. "Nothing I can't handle right now."

Will looked away. It really wasn't fair to him that I was angry at him for checking up on my wellbeing, but it just got supremely annoying after a while.

"Maybe I'll just…leave this here," I sighed, throwing my dagger on my bed and readjusting the strap of my quiver.

Will scoffed and I felt insulted. I crossed my arms and faced him, giving him one of my glares.

"You? Go without your dagger? Please," he said.

"Well, what do you suppose I do with it then?" I demanded. "It's not like hiding it's going to do me any good. Apparently, the monsters in Tartarus know where I carry it."

"Why hide it? If you've got such a reputation, then let them know you're not joking around."

My glare dropped, as did my arms. I felt stupid for struggling so hard only to have my much younger sibling tell me something that should've been obvious. It was like the same mentality with my scars. I used to hide them, ashamed and angry about how I'd acquired them. After all that'd happened, I figured if people saw them, they would know that I wasn't messing around, so I didn't go out of my way to hide them from people anymore.

I snatched up my dagger, sheathing it and attaching it to my waist, opposite of my sword. I'd have to find a new place that would be easier for me to reach with my dominant hand (I could, if needed, use it with my left hand, I just preferred not to), but for now that would have to do.

"All right, I should go if I don't want to be late. Thanks, Will," I said, starting toward the exit.

"Have fun. Say hi to Dan for me. Don't kill anyone," he listed off, following me out.

"I can't guarantee that last one," I half-joked, giving him a smile. Will simply snorted before we parted ways.

* * *

I had been making a dark joke when I'd made that comment about my luck, and about the not killing anyone thing to Will. I really should've known better.

Things had gone without a hitch regarding my drive over (because this wasn't strictly demigod business, I drove myself0 and getting situated in the theater. I'd almost made it all the way through the play without a single incident. The final battle was coming up, and as was the way of Greek tragedies, I had a feeling that a lot of the characters, if not all, were going to die. In fact, most had already. Except for the gods and goddesses, of course.

So far, a guy named Thanos, who was a son of Ares, was cursed by Nemesis. Thanos had angered the goddess when he'd killed one of Nemesis's daughters, Seraphina, because she'd beat him in swordplay. Nemesis had made it so that his thirst for revenge was never quenched—he'd always been looking for vengeance. This curse had driven him to insanity and he'd gone into the Labyrinth, but he became the new monster, killing anyone who entered.

Nemesis then called upon Athanasia (daughter of Poseidon, with more abilities over the earth than water) and her friend Endymion (played by Dan; son of Athena) to help fix the problem before Zeus found out and punished Nemesis. Athanasia was also Thanos's half-sister.

Anyway, the final battle was coming up between Endymion and Thanos. I was to find out later from Dan that what was supposed to have happened was Endymion dies at the hands of Thanos. Grief-stricken and angery, Athanasia picks up her fallen comrade's weapon and fights Thanos herself. Unfortunately, instead of saving Thanos like Athanasia had planned, she ends up mortally wounding him. After he dies, she kills herself because of what she's done.

Is that what happened, though? You guessed it! Nope.

The first thing that tipped me off that something was wrong was the moment Thanos walked out on stage to confront Endymion and Anathasia. Luther, the student who was cast as Thanos, didn't quite seem himself. His whole demeanor had changed—the way he walked, held a sword, his facial expression even seemed crueler.

You'd think being a demigod, you'd always be able to see through the Mist, but that wasn't necessarily the case. Monsters had the power to manipulate the Mist just as much as half-bloods and sometimes fooled them.

If I concentrated hard enough, Luther's image would shimmer to reveal a humanoid-looking monster. It had the body of a man, but that was where the similarities ended. It glowed red and had a dog's head. I blinked and Luther was back. The sword in the monster's hand also shimmered and changed, becoming shinier—Celestial bronze. He had a _real_ Celestial bronze sword.

My eyes flickered over to Dan. He didn't seem to notice anything was wrong, maybe he was too in character.

I could feel my heart hammering away in my chest. My hands twitched, wanting to reach for my sword, but I fought down the urge. I needed to get out into the aisle first. My mind raced through all the possible scenarios, and thought of plans of attack, all the while trying to be polite and quietly whisper "excuse me" as I shimmied toward the aisle. I kept my eyes on the stage, though.

Endymion and Thanos were exchanging lines. Dan still seemed unaware of what was going on. I wondered if I were to reveal that Dan was facing a monster, if he'd able to keep calm. Then I scolded myself for that thought. He'd been through the war with me, he was also a fantastic actor. If anyone could keep calm and act like nothing was wrong when faced with a glowing red monster on stage in front of a nearly-packed theater, Dan could.

When I finally got to the aisle, I focused on my rune and carefully peeled away the Mist, but only enough so that Dan and I could see the monster.

As soon as I did so, I saw Dan tense and grip his word. His _fake_ sword. He turned toward his fellow cast member.

"Athanasia, I think it would be safer if you went and found a hiding place," he said, as Endymion.

The girl who was playing Athanasia, Daisy, looked up at Dan in confusion. He'd gone off script.

"Please, I would feel a lot better if you were hiding," Dan insisted, squeezing her arm with his free hand.

"Something wrong?" Thanos sneered. Now that I knew this was a monster, his voice sounded more like a dog trying to speak, but not quite making it. In fact, the way it spoke reminded me of telkhines—I shoved the bad memories associated with those creatures down, into the cage with my demons.

The monsters were a strange mix between human, seal, and dog. Only, this monster sounded a bit more human than they did when they spoke.

"You know I can take care of myself," Daisy replied, managing to stay in character. I'm sure behind the curtains, the stage manager, and assistant stage managers were having a heyday, trying to figure out what Dan was doing.

Dan managed a half-smile. "I know. Please?"

Daisy gave my brother one last look before nodding silently and walking off stage. Persuasive as ever.

Gripping the hilt of his sword until his knuckles were white, Dan turned to face the monster.

Okay, so everyone was off stage. I didn't need to worry about anyone getting hurt. The background was solid wood, so even if someone was waiting at the back, they'd be protected. Unless Dan brought the fight into the audience, which, knowing him, he wouldn't, the audience members should be safe. Now I needed to figure out how to help him. At this point, I didn't care if I drew attention to myself. I just hoped the Mist would do its work and the audience would think this was part of the performance.

The monster and my brother were already unequal. Dan's sword was fake, while the monster's was _very_ real. I glanced down at my own sword. If I could bring it to my hand with the rune, could I also put it in someone else's hand? It would probably take more effort, and I hadn't practiced at all, but I was desperate.

I focused on my rune again, ripping my sword (sheath and all) from my waist.

"Dan!" I yelled. Instinctively, he looked out at the audience. I held out the sword in front of me, vertically, and then let go forcing it to stay afloat. Then it zoomed toward the stage at an alarming rate. At first, I worried I'd put a little _too_ much effort into it, but Dan was a demigod, he had fast reflexes. Without even thinking, he dropped his fake sword and caught mine.

He had just enough time to unsheathe it before the monster attacked.

I quickly removed my bow from my shoulder and knocked an arrow. Dan had never been the best at swordplay.

This monster was _fast_ , though, and strong. It easily disarmed Dan before I had time to even lift my bow and arrow. Without even hesitating, it kicked Dan in the chest, sending him sprawling. In the back of my head, I registered the audience's gasps. I could feel the tension in the air as thick and suffocating as smoke.

Forcing myself to concentrate, I lifted my bow and arrow just as the monster jabbed his sword down at Dan, who had lifted himself up slightly with one of his elbows. I let my arrow fly and it hit the monster's hand, who yelped (literally). Its sword clattered to the stage floor as it turned its head, snout sniffing me out.

I didn't think it could see me in the dark, but it looked directly at me. Then I remembered that dogs had a superior sense of smell to humans. Then I also realized that for him to have my scent, he would've _needed_ something that had my scent all over it. My skin started to crawl at the very thought.

"Well," the monster snarled, breaking me from my thoughts. "If it isn't our very own Seirína."

My brain automatically translated the Greek word: _siren_. I gripped my bow and arrow, shifting on my feet. My stomach started churning and I stifled a shudder—my smell, _theirs_ , that nickname.

" _Your_ very own?" I responded in a stronger voice than how I felt inside. "Say that again, I dare you."

The monster bared its canine teeth in what I thought was some kind of twisted grin. Without saying anything, the dog-headed monster turned back toward Dan, reaching for the sword he dropped.

I quickly knocked another arrow and let it fly between the space of the sword and the monster's hand. It froze before barking out a laugh and straightening up.

"Come up here, then, Seirína," he invited theatrically. Not in a modern stage way, but the way you would in a coliseum. It was a bit unnerving. Still, I couldn't let that show. Swallowing hard, I dropped my hand, still holding onto my bow, squared my shoulders, lifted my chin and started toward the stage. Three steps in, I was suddenly bathed in light, coming from behind. I could see part of my shadow and then the halo of light surrounding my shadow on the ground in front of me.

I paused and took a deep breath, gripping my bow. My eyes went to Dan with an expression that said, "Really?" He gave me a sheepish look and shrugged slightly. It shouldn't have surprised me that they had decided to run with this—the show must go on and all that—but it did anyway.

The spotlight followed me as I slowly made my way toward the stage. Three more steps in, the monster started talking to me. Its voice had a mocking edge to it.

"We've heard so many rumors about you in Tartarus," it sang in its weird, dog-human voice that you'd think I'd have been used to by now considering how much I was around telkhines.

"Please, do tell," I responded as I got to the edge of the stage and started toward the stairs on the opposite side, because I wanted to be as far as possible from the monster. Less chance it could attack me with a hidden weapon.

"It's a bit underwhelming, I must say," the monster ignored me. "You're not all that impressive."

"Honestly, if you were here to just _insult_ me—" I deadpanned as I walked up the steps, my eyes never leaving the creature.

"I see you've changed where your dagger is," the glowing red demon commented casually. My hand twitched. That was going to be a sore spot for me.

I stood parallel to the dog-human monster. Its body was facing the audience, but the dog head was turned, looking directly at me. I met its beady, black eyes.

"I figured if you all knew where it was, there was no point in hiding it anymore." I replied easily, giving my best smile without humor.

"Is it hard without Luke?"

I felt like someone had just shot an icepick through my chest. I fisted my shaking hand, gripped my bow tighter, and tried to move my focus outward—people on stage, people in the audience, any noise in front of me, to my left, right, behind, every single little movement the demon dog-human made; Dan, who was still on the ground.

"It must've been unbearable to see him as Kronos," the monster continued. "I can't even begin to imagine what it's like with him completely gone."

Behind the monster, I saw Dan start to move, toward the hilt of the sword lying next to him. I shook my head the tiniest fraction. This monster was fast and skilled, I was afraid Dan would get hurt if he tried to take the sword.

"She's right, _Endymion_ ," the monster snarled without taking its eyes off me. Dan's hand retracted, his eyes flickering to me worriedly. I met his eyes for a second longer before looking back at the dog-human.

"I hate to cut the chatter, but we're wasting time," I said coldly. "Why are you here? What do you want?"

The monster pulled back its lips, showing its razor-sharp teeth. They reminded me of hellhounds' teeth. I blinked hard, pushing down the flashbacks. I was over that now. I was _over_ that.

"You know why."

It started to move, toward its sword. I automatically reached for an arrow, raising my bow. The monster's other hand came up in a "stop" gesture.

"I'm just going to retrieve my sword," the demon assured. I didn't lower my arms. "I swear on the Styx."

Glaring at the demon, I slowly lowered my bow and retracted my hand from my quiver. When the monster finally had its sword back, it spun the blade which transformed into a shining, Celestial bronze poleaxe. The pole itself was made from strong, thick wood. The axe was metal, glistening wickedly in the theater lights.

"They say you're much better with a sword than your siblings, ready to prove that?" the monster asked with that twisted snarl-grin.

I threw my bow upstage before holding out my right hand and summoning my sword into it, doing a little trick of my own with it before taking a fighting stance, not breaking eye-contact the whole time, not even to blink.

"Ready when you are."

Thankfully, because of how obsessed I'd become with training, I'd fought with a sword against a poleaxe. I'd practiced many times fighting with a sword against a poleaxe. Like I said, I _hated_ feeling helpless.

As we started toward each other, Dan took the opportunity to stand and get off the stage, out of the line of fire (so to speak), but the monster seemed to sense that he'd moved. Without even blinking, it faced Dan and swung the end of the poleaxe at Dan's head.

"Watch out!" I warned. Too late, the butt of the poleaxe hit the side of Dan's head as he turned to face me and the monster again. He crumpled to the floor, but was still conscious, as evidenced by his groaning and reaching up to hold his head. When he pulled his hand away, there was blood.

I saw red, then, but took in a deep breath to force all that energy into the fight.

"Enough!" I shouted. "You wanted me, you got me."

The glowing red monster came at me with alarming speed, but rage was fueling me. I managed to block its swing, the blade of the axe inches from my neck. We came face-to-face for a second before I pushed it away and counterattacked.

The fight seemed to be going well. None of the demon's comments had managed to rattle me enough to throw me off my game. The rage I felt only fueled me, energized me. I didn't let it control me, though, because I knew if I let anything get under my skin, I'd make a stupid mistake that might cost me my life.

What I wasn't anticipating was my chronic pain making a sudden resurgence. I did a certain move and a shockwave of unexpected prickles shot up my arm, causing the pin-pricks in my entire body to ignite, like a line of gunpowder leading up to a whole barrel-full. With a gasp of shock and pain, I dropped my sword. My knees gave out, too, and I hit the floor, sitting down hard with my legs underneath me, curling in on myself, trying to contain the agony. I didn't think I'd ever felt the chronic pain so intensely, so badly before. It'd been there, as it always would be, but my brain had managed to push it away if I focused on other things. Usually.

Now, though, _now_ , I couldn't think past the pain. My vision was blurry, going in and out of darkness. My body was screaming in agony. My head felt like it was going to explode. Even with all the training I'd done, even as a demigod, I hadn't ever experienced such an intense pain before. All over my body no less.

Something connected with my face, sending me sprawling on my side. Now, along with the prickly nerve pain, my cheek ached. More worrying, the prickles weren't fading or going away. It stayed at that unbearable level. I could barely breathe. It took all my concentration just to remind myself to breathe.

There were voices…but I couldn't tell you what they'd said. I couldn't remember, the pain overrode most of my memory of that part of the night.

I somehow ended up on my stomach, looking toward stage right, where Dan was still lying. The monster had gone up to him and was raising its axe. Despite the pain, a small part of my brain lit up. A small part of my brain _did_ know that I _had_ to protect my brother. I wasn't going to let anyone take his life away from him, especially because of me.

I reached out my right hand, embracing my current pain, all the anger, guilt, sadness I'd ever felt and focused on my rune, concentrating all that emotional energy into that small spot on my wrist. Right before the monster's blade could make contact with Dan, the weapon flew from its hand to mine. It wasn't like I could do anything with it at the moment. I'd spent all my energy, now all I knew was the sharp, stinging nerve pain. My main goal had been achieved though, I'd gotten the weapon away from the monster.

Through my blurring vision, I saw the monster walk up to me, pressing its foot onto the hand that was gripping the poleaxe. I gritted my teeth, causing the ache in my cheek to throb painfully, as a new pain flared up in my hand.

The monster was speaking to me, leaning down, thinking I'd be able to hear better. Once again, I couldn't tell you what it was saying, because I just couldn't remember. Dan couldn't really, either, unfortunately.

Something I do remember was reaching for my dagger. I can't quite recall how I'd managed to get it into my left hand without the monster noticing, but maybe it'd been too busy bragging or something. Also, I was moving slowly because any movement caused more pain, which was something I _did not_ want at that moment.

Summoning what clarity of mind and strength I had left, I remember myself, in the middle of the demon's sentence, pushing up on my right hand (which was still under the dog-human's foot, mind you) and stabbing the monster in the chest as I said, as Dan would tell me later, "If you've heard of me, then you'll also know that I will stop at nothing to protect my brother. Gods be damned." I, then, proceeded to shove the dagger up to its hilt into the monster's chest, adding, "There's a reason you only hear my name in Tartarus." right before it burst into dust.

After, it's really just a haze of pain and exhaustion. I don't think I was even half-conscious after that point.

Dan would tell me later, when my head was much more clear that as the audience broke into a deafening applause he'd stumbled to his feet, grabbed me, and dragged me backstage, into the green room. It'd been empty at the time because the tech crew and actors were running around, cleaning up the dust and trying to get things in order for the end of the show, trying to figure out what exactly happened.

After taking a square of ambrosia to heal his head wound, he'd given me a pretty large chunk. Immediately I regained consciousness. My cheek stopped throbbing, my hand stopped burning, and like it always did, the prickles went away completely, like someone had snuffed out their flames. The relief was so dizzying all I could do was sit in the chair Dan had set me in for a few minutes while my brother waited silently, never taking his eyes off me.

Finally, I blinked slowly and met his eyes.

"Luther," I blurted, my mind running back through what it could remember.

"What?" Dan's eyebrows furrowed.

"Luther, that monster was impersonating Luther. We should find the real guy." I explained standing up.

Dan shot to his feet, holding up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, you need to rest, first off—"

"I'm fine now," I waved my hand, looking around the green room. No closets you could hide a body in. "The ambrosia fixed everything. For now."

"For _now_? Tori—" He tried to put his hands on my shoulders.

I flinched away. "Dan, it's a long story. Right now, can we just focus on your cast member, please?"

Dan glared at me, but I also knew if he gave up now, he wasn't going to let it slide later. "Fine. I think I know where the monster might've put him." We exited the green room and crossed the hall to the costume shop. The tables and cutting boards were bare, except for the occasional concept art for a costume or an actual costume that wouldn't fit in the dressing room. There were also plenty of closets to hide someone.

We started on opposite sides of the room. I was the one to find Luther. He was lying on his back on the floor, unconscious. I knelt down and quickly checked his pulse, letting out a breath when I found one. It was even and strong, though I sensed a concussion.

I whistled for Dan to come over. He knelt down next to me. "Concussion. I…can't heal him—"

"I've got it, just make sure no one comes in," Dan said, moving closer to Luther and positioning him upright.

I stood and moved to give Dan more room, keeping my eyes on the door. I felt naked without my sword, dagger, and bow. I wanted them back in my possession as soon as possible. Having worked in the theater scene before, I knew that sometimes actors weren't the best at keeping their props together. I hoped no one had touched my weapons. If someone _had_ , then I prayed it'd been one of the techs.

Luther started groaning, so I turned and kneeled next to Dan again. Luther blinked before finally becoming fully aware of where he was.

"Dan?" he asked. "What happened?" He put a hand to his head. "Did…someone hit me?" His eyes flickered over to me. "Who are you?"

"Maybe we should knock him out again," I muttered to Dan. Luther gave me a, "You're crazy!" look.

Dan looked at me dryly. "Har, har." He reached for Luther's hand. "Come on, Luther—" I pulled Dan's hand away from Luther's, slightly pushing him away, too, before reaching for Luther's head, who backed away with wide eyes.

"Victoria," Dan warned.

I ignored my brother, putting one hand on Luther's shoulder and one hand on the side of his head. I focused on my rune and Mist.

"You tripped while getting ready to go out on stage and hit your head hard enough to knock you unconscious. They had to use your understudy to finish up the show." I said, working the Mist. Luther's eyes glazed over for a moment before his brain took it. I pulled my hands away as Luther's eyes cleared and he blinked hard.

"What am I doing in a closet?" he asked.

I blanched, having forgotten where we were and adding that into the narrative. Thankfully Dan was quick on his feet.

"Some of the other cast members thought it would be funny to put you in here after you knocked yourself out," he divulged, rolling his eyes for added effect. "Don't worry, we checked to make sure you were all right. You don't have a concussion. You should be fine."

Luther lifted a hand to his head again. "I've got a massive headache, man. You sure I don't have a concussion?"

"Well…if you're worried, you can always go to the doctor and get it checked out." Dan acquiesced. He was about to say something else, but the door to the costume shop opened and Daisy poked her head in.

"There you are!" she exclaimed. "Come on, it's time for final bows!" With that she left.

"You guys should go," I said, standing up. "I'll see you outside the theater, Dan."

"Oh, no," Dan said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward the door. Luther followed, apparently not questioning anything anymore. Maybe he was just so confused, he thought it better to save it for later. "You had a big role tonight. It's time for you to take your bows, too."

I half-scoffed, half-laughed and shook my head. "No way, you know how much I hate the spotlight. I don't even go here. I'm not even part of the permanent cast."

Dan simply smiled and continued to pulling me. I turned to Luther as a last ditch effort.

"Tell him, I didn't do anything. I had no part in this play. I shouldn't be getting any credit, right?"

Luther shrugged. "Sorry, dude, I was unconscious apparently."

I groaned—which was drowned out by the cheers of the crowd—as Dan led us through to backstage and through the legs, onto the stage. The rest of the actors were already on stage, having given their bows. Dan let Luther go with Daisy for bows before Dan pulled me to the edge of downstage. Then he stepped back and held out his arms, presenting me. I bowed awkwardly, because acting had never been my thing before quickly stepping back and presenting Dan. He gave me a rueful smile before fluidly stepping up and giving his theatrical, fluid bow. I smiled and clapped along with the audience and cast members. After, Dan took my hand as the other actors came forward, and we all took hands before giving the final two bows together.

* * *

The pain had returned by the time Dan had changed out of costume, taken off his makeup and finished cleaning up. Thankfully, it was bearable this time. I didn't think it'd ever get to such a point that I couldn't think, let alone not be able to remember what I'd done or said, however, I was also afraid that there was a chance it'd happen again.

I'd just have to avoid that move.

My blood froze. Did that mean there were _other_ moves that I wouldn't be able to do without intensifying the pain? Did that mean if I made a mistake like that again, I'd experience what happened on stage? A rock formed in the pit of my stomach. There had to be a way to avoid that, right?

The only solution I could really think of was training. I'd just have to train, using every possible move I could think of and see if it caused me pain. I needed to figure this out, because with the things I did…if I messed up I'd die. Tonight I'd just been lucky. Especially because it was my first time experiencing such an occurrence.

"Hey," Dan's voice broke me from my spinning thoughts. "You all right?"

I realized I was breathing hard and my hands were shaking. I'd been working myself up into a panic attack.

"I'm…I'm fine," I blinked and looked away.

Dan was quiet for a moment. "I think we have a lot to talk about."

My eyes snapped back up to him. "Yeah…I-I think so, too."

We walked back to Dan's apartment, which wasn't far. My mind kept switching back and forth between having almost lost my brother again to the revelation about my pain. I didn't even realize that we were in Dan's room, sitting on his bed, until he nudged me with his elbow.

"You're starting to worry me," he said, trying to joke, but it was half-hearted.

"You're _always_ worried about me," I shot back with a roll of my eyes.

Dan snorted. "Okay, you're starting to worry me _more than usual_ ," he amended.

I took a deep breath, sobering up. I told him what Will had told me about my chronic pain, how it was caused by the venom from Chimera. I told him about standing up to Mr. D and how our siblings had almost started a riot because of it. (Dan agreed with them, by the way.)

"Listen," I started, switching topics. "If you don't want me to keep coming to your productions—"

"How could you even say that?" Dan interrupted looking angry and upset, but also worried and hurt.

"Did you not see what happened tonight?" I asked incredulously, pushing away the twinge of guilt at his hurt. "I don't want you or your friends to get hurt because of _me_. I've already…" I choked and lost my voice, tears springing in my eyes. I swallowed the bile and forced myself to continue. "I've already killed so many, harmed so many, I would _never_ be able to live with myself if you, or someone you cared about, got hurt because of me."

"You've never killed anyone," my brother objected fiercely.

"But I let it happen! I let our friends _die_! And that's just as bad."

"This is my choice, too, Victoria," Dan said, meeting my eyes and holding them. They burned with anger, worry, determination, love. "I send those tickets so that you can escape from that world. Even if it's just for a few hours. I send those tickets so that I can see you. So that I can talk to you. Hearing about how you're doing from everyone else isn't good enough, sometimes."

"Dan—" I tried.

"And I'm not trying to guilt-trip you. I swear, that's not my intention. I'm just stating how I feel. I realize that you…sometimes…don't recognize when you're struggling. Also, knowing you, I know you don't like asking for help. It's fine, I've accepted that that's just who you are."

"I just…don't want you to worry," I mumbled, looking down at the floor.

Dan took my hand. "I know." He squeezed my hand and I looked back up at him. He gave me a small smile.

I managed a small one of my own.

"I want you to keep coming," he continued. "I can handle monsters. I may not be the best with a sword, but I'm also not letting myself get rusty on either my bow and arrows or my sword."

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay."

I left a little after that, promising on the Styx I wasn't going to bail and not attend future productions he was going to participate in. It was always hard to leave him, because worry invaded my mind. As he'd said, though, he _could_ take care of himself. He'd done it for three, four years now, he'd be _just_ fine.

I was exhausted by the time I got back to camp. As I trudged up the hill, Peleus greeted me with a puff of smoke and a low growl at the back of his throat. I patted his snout.

"Sorry, buddy, not right now, I've got to get some shut-eye," I apologized. He grumbled. "You know how it is. I'll probably be back in a few hours." He blew smoke again, nudging me with his nose, making a noise I hadn't heard him make before. It was almost like a whine, kind of how a dog would do when it was trying to comfort you. Did Peleus know I was having nightmares? I shook off that thought. "You should get some sleep, too. I'll see you later, buddy."

Peleus gave one last puff of smoke before readjusting around Thalia's pine tree and getting comfortable.

I was so tired I didn't realize that there were people standing on Cabin Seven's porch until I was half-way across the green. I stopped and blinked, hoping that I wasn't hallucinating, before continuing on, more alert now.

Was something wrong? I looked around the green. No other campers were up from what I could tell, so nothing too serious, then. That was at least good. I'd had my fill today.

As I got closer, I realized they were from the Hermes cabin. Connor, the co-head counselor, was with one of the cabin's younger siblings, Wally. He was about eight. I also saw they were talking with Will, who spotted me a few feet from the porch. Connor and Wally turned to see what Will was looking at as I came up onto the porch.

"What's…going on? Is something wrong?" I asked carefully.

"Wally had a bad dream," Will explained. I looked from my half-brother down to the boy. His eyes were rimmed red, shining with tears. Tear stains streaked his face.

"Viola told me that you sang her a song," Wally continued, "and made everything better." I blinked down at the boy, not expecting that response at all. Had she phrased it like that, too? That seemed like a lot of faith on Viola's part. It wasn't that it wasn't sweet, she was ten, after all. But the last time someone had put that much faith in me, their boyfriend had died on my watch. Of course, this was just singing. The other thing had involved Greek fire explosives, a large cruise ship full of monsters, and Kronos himself.

"You don't mind if I come over to your cabin?" I asked Connor, breaking away from my thoughts. I was never sure about the children of Hermes. I'd fallen in love and been in a pretty serious relationship with their previous head counselor, but I'd also let their friends die and said head counselor be possessed by Kronos.

Connor shrugged. "At this point, I'll try anything." I tried not to wince at the implied insult. Instead, I turned my attention to Wally, because that's who this was about right now. No me, not Connor, but Wally. Despite not knowing how to handle kids, I did have a soft spot for them in that it was always disheartening and rage-inducing that they had to deal with all this at such a young age. It just didn't seem fair.

I kneeled down so I was at Wally's eyelevel. "Why don't we get back to your cabin, then, hm?" I inquired. Wally nodded a small smile forming across his lips. I smiled back before picking him up into my arms. Once again, my body protested, but I didn't stumble this time. Still, I didn't miss the look Will was giving me (I had no doubt Dan had told him what'd transpired tonight). I stifled the urge to flip him off.

"I'll be back shortly, don't wait up," I called, giving Will a pointed glare over my shoulder at that last part, as I made my way down the steps and toward the Hermes cabin. Connor was close behind.

Connor got the door for me. I stepped inside and froze. I hadn't been inside for three or four years. My breath spasmed, coming out in small gasps, and the cage rattled violently, my heart stuttered in my chest. I closed my eyes and tried to get control of my breathing. I remembered sleepless nights, midnight talks with Luke, him inviting me over to his bunk, talks in the darkened cabin, shared kisses, laughter, hugs, sadness, mutual pain. It was overwhelming and it all hit me at once. I could feel myself losing it.

I gripped Wally to me a little bit tighter, using him to ground me. My breaths started to slow. The flashbacks and memories slowly started to fade back into my memory. When I thought I'd be able to control my emotions, I opened my eyes again and started forward again.

The scene before me was similar to what happened in the Apollo cabin the night Viola couldn't sleep—there were some campers who were awake, zombies, or completely knocked out.

Connor led me over to Wally's bunk. I set him down gently and pulled the blankets over him. Connor went to stand next to what I assumed was his bunk, but leaned against part of the frame that held up the top bunk, watching me with critical eyes. Used to being watched like I was going to all axe-murder on them suddenly, I ignored Connor and sat on the edge of Wally's bed.

I reached out and ruffled his bangs, getting a laugh from him.

"There's a smile," I commented. "Okay, do you have a song in particular you'd like me to sing?"

Wally thought for a second, concentrating so hard, he was pouting. " _The Lion King_!" he finally exclaimed excitedly.

I laughed nervously. "Is there a particular song you like? I don't know that I could do the whole thing, kid."

Wally thought about that again. "'I Just Can't Wait to Be King,'" he decided. "That's my favorite."

I glanced back at Connor before leaning in toward Wally and saying in a stage whisper, "Is that your secret wish?"

Wally's eyes also flickered to Connor before he leaned toward me, using the same whisper, "Yes, but don't tell Connor or Travis."

"You're secret's safe with me," I promised, ruffling his hair again. I snuck a peek back at Connor, who was looking away with his arms crossed, but I could see him fighting a smile.

Pleased, I turned back to Wally. "All right, relax, think of…cows."

"Sheep," Wally corrected with a giggle. "You're funny."

"Sheep, okay, think of sheep." I winked, getting another giggle. Smiling, I started softly singing the song he'd asked for, doing the voice for Zazu to the best of my ability (because, I'll admit, I wasn't much of an actor, but I could really get into and theatrical it if I wanted to).

Wally seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit and as I got closer to the end of the song, his eyes started drooping, he started yawning more. Despite his best efforts, he finally fell asleep, a big grin still on his face.

As I finished out the song, I smiled and brushed back some of his bangs. I stood quietly, and looked around the cabin. Everyone had gone back to sleep except for Connor, who looked about ready to fall over and start snoring. He hadn't moved from where he'd been standing when I'd set Wally back in his bunk, except now he was leaning heavily against the frame.

"I'll just take my leave now," I whispered nodding and going to the door.

"Hey, Victoria," Connor called in a quiet voice. I opened the door before turning to look at him. "Thanks."

I nodded and gave him a small smile. "Of course."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, a whopping 12 pages! I just hope this makes up for my long absence. I know it's been a while, I just hit a terrible writer's block for this chapter. (Curse _you_ WRITER'S BLOCK! *shakes fist*) But I finally finished it! Hooray!
> 
> So not as doom and gloom as the others. And to be honest, I didn't think I would've been able to write another emotionally draining chapter, like. So, some brother-sister love going on, and a cute little ending to tie it all up. Next chapter will have some doom, some gloom, but more brother-sister bonding. ᕕ( ◑ ᗜ ◑ )ᕗ
> 
> As always, hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	8. And I Will Try

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **TRIGGER WARNING:** talk and contemplation of suicide.

"Again!" I barked, struggling to get to my feet. My body was screaming in agony, begging me to stop. I had ingested so much nectar and ambrosia in this one session that I could feel my skin burning through the prickling pain. If I took another shot, ate another square I'd probably spontaneously combust. Also, having learned from pushing myself during that monster attack on stage, I'd severely regret this later.

But none of that mattered.

All that mattered was determining what moves would cause me pain so I could avoid those moves. I didn't want a repeat of what happened at Dan's performance. My life, _others'_ lives, depending on this. I couldn't let myself down. Most of all, I couldn't let anyone else down. I would never be helpless again. I would never passively watch anything happen ever again.

Someone grabbed my right arm and I fought the urge to twist their wrist to the point of pain to get them off my back. I glared at Will, who glared right back, his grip tightening on my arm.

"No," Will said in a steely calm voice. "You're done for today."

"Will, our activity isn't over yet—" I tried, gripping my sword, glancing at Ellis, from the Ares cabin. I'd been sparring with him the entire session because I knew he wouldn't hold back.

" _I'm_ the head counselor for this cabin," he interrupted firmly, not loosening his grip on my arm. " _I_ say when our activities are over. And I'm saying, we're done."

We had a stare off, the arena filling up with tension the longer and longer the silence lasted.

"He's right you know," a voice broke in, shattering the silence and tension like glass. Will let go of my arm and I dropped my sword arm, turning toward the sound of the voice. It was Mr. D, standing in one of the entrances to the arena.

I stumbled a bit, trying to determine if I needed to kneel but also knowing if I did, that would raise questions for the Ares campers that were with us. Mr. D waved his hand dismissively, signaling I didn't need to and I relaxed…as much as I could for how much pain I was in and how angry I was, anyway.

"You should listen to your brother, Wilson—"

"Will," Will corrected in a monotone.

"Besides, I think you're quite late today," our camp director commented. The sudden realization hit me that I had to clean the stables today but had been so busy with practicing and determining what would hurt and what wouldn't, I'd completely forgotten. I quickly sheathed my sword and headed toward Mr. D's exit.

"I apologize for the indiscretion, my lord," I murmured as I passed, low enough no one else would hear. Behind me, I heard Will's voice, still just as steely as it had been before. It was probably him trying to convince Mr. D to just let me off today because he knew _exactly_ how much I was hurting currently. Unfortunately, for Will, it would fall on deaf ears. Mr. D wasn't happy with me right now, not that he usually was, and now I had to make sure my situation didn't get worse, so that meant sucking it up and doing what I needed to. Even though this task would probably take me twice as long as usual and my body would hate me for the next few days afterward.

Thankfully, right now the pain wasn't at the point that I couldn't think. It was certainly getting there, and by the time I finished with the stables, would probably be there, but for right now I could handle it.

* * *

Okay, so maybe I was having some trouble handling it.

After finding out that nectar and ambrosia got rid of the pain completely, I was sneaking more and more. The problem was, where a shot of nectar or square of ambrosia would usually last me a few hours if I was lucky, it now only lasted me an hour at the most. So, I took bigger shots, bigger squares to make up for the deficit. Only, even those bigger portions were starting to fade quicker and quicker.

I could feel myself slowly slipping into a dependence, but I couldn't stop because I just wanted the pain to go away.

It wasn't damned fair! After everything I'd gone through already, the Fates thought I wasn't suffering enough and gave me chronic pain.

I gripped the glass that was resting on the bathroom counter, but in my right hand.

I was standing in the bathroom, leaning over a sink, staring down at it, trying to determine if I should take one more shot of nectar. My skin was warm and my ears were buzzing. I wasn't _trying_ to kill myself, it was just…the pain was returning and I didn't want it to. It was returning and it wasn't a dull roar, like an average-sized waterfall. It was like a monsoon had come in and caused the rivers to flood, the waterfall to swell, filling me up, drowning me.

I heard the doorknob jiggle as someone tried to open it. I'd locked it, not wanting to be bothered. I thought it was going to be a quick decision, but when the rational part of my brain realized that another shot would probably, most definitely kill me, I'd froze.

Three soft knocks came.

"Victoria?" I'd recognize Will's muffled voice anywhere. Gods knew I'd heard it enough times.

With a sigh, I pulled away from the counter, taking the glass with me. I walked over the door and unlocked it. Will opened it up, his eyes flickering to the glass in my hand before meeting my gaze again.

He stepped inside, reaching out slowly. "Victoria, hand me the glass," he said in a low, calm voice.

I pulled it away from him, into my chest, cradling it with both hands as I stepped away from my half-brother. Tears sprung into my eyes unexpectedly and I blinked rapidly to try and dispel them. I shook my head, not saying a word, afraid if I did try to speak, I'd start sobbing.

Will followed me, taking another careful step toward me, hand still outstretched.

"It's okay," he assured in his soothing, lilting voice. "Just hand me the glass, please."

I felt more tears pool in my eyes. Sobs built up in my throat. The pain was slowly returning again. I looked down at the glass for a fleeting second at the golden liquid that would take my pain away.

"Victoria," Will said again, in a stronger voice. My head snapped back up to him. I'd made my decision. Without a word, I started to raise the glass to my lips.

Will moved quickly.

His hand wrapped around my wrist like an iron vice before the glass could even touch my lips. His other hand came around to take it from me. I was too startled to fight back or try and hold onto the glass. Besides, as soon as Will had grabbed my wrist, the fight left me. The tears spilled over, the sobs overflowed.

Will dropped the glass, not hard enough to break it, and pulled me into him. I gripped the front of his shirt with one hand, the other arm going around him, pulling him closer, anchoring myself so I could let go for this moment. So I could just lose myself in my sobs and the eternal hollow ache in my chest and the nerve-pain of my physical body.

The guilt I felt for putting all my siblings through this, for putting _Will_ , especially, through this was overwhelming. I knew they were just trying to help and I was trying to be strong, but my form of being strong was telling them I was okay when I wasn't. I had to be okay most of the time for their sake, for my sake, for my sanity. I didn't want them to worry about me, to have to feel my pain all the time. It just wasn't fair to them.

They were still dealing with their own issues after the war. We had all suffered, which was why I hated that they worried more about me than they worried about themselves. So I put on a brave face and powered through it. I tried to be there for them when I could…though lately it seemed like they'd been being there for me more often than not. Still, it wasn't all about me all the time. I wasn't going to let it be that way. I was _going_ to be strong. For them.

Sometimes, though, I just couldn't be strong anymore.

* * *

I put the empty bucket and brush back into the shed next to the outdoor bathrooms and closed it shut. I looked toward the beach, just in time to see the sun peek up from the horizon. I always cleaned the public bathrooms early in the morning, before anyone was up, before there was foot traffic preventing me from doing so. It wasn't the most glamorous job (in fact, sometimes it was downright disgusting), but because I did it every day it didn't leave filth time to gather.

With a sigh, thinking about all the other chores I'd have to do today, I stepped away from the shed and headed back to the Apollo cabin. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see my brother, chatting with our siblings. My earphones were in, so I wasn't sure what they were saying, but I quickly paused my music player and pulled them out.

"Something wrong?" I asked, stepping in and closing the door behind me.

"Why do you always assume something is wrong?" Dan asked.

"Because it usually is," I shot back. "With me, it is."

"You honestly don't remember?" my brother question, looking incredulous and amused, like he was never going to let me live this moment down.

"Don't remember _what_?" I was getting irritated now. The rest of my siblings were snickering now, murmuring to each other. "Will someone please just tell me what the big secret is?"

There was a beat of silence before Viola appeared suddenly with a grin. "Happy Birthday!" she shouted before running toward me. I was just barely able to hold my arms out in time for her to jump into them. Even then, I stumbled back against the door because my body hadn't been expecting extra weight. I leaned heavily against the door, glad it'd been there, and let out a breath, hoping it didn't sound like a wheeze or worse, a yelp.

"Thank you, sweetheart," I managed, pulling back to smile at Viola, who beamed up at me. I looked back at my other siblings who were amused at Viola's enthusiasm. Dan and Will were looking a bit concerned, probably because of how well I'd handled catching our newest cabin member.

I couldn't believe I'd forgotten it was my birthday. Well, Dan and I's birthday, I suppose.

"Okay, I need to set you down, sweetie," I told Viola, carefully putting her down.

"Just as well, I have to go work on my present for you, anyway," she said before scurrying off.

I watched her go before approaching Dan and Will as the rest of the cabin finished preparing for breakfast.

"I really appreciate that you came over, Dan," I started, "but I have so many things I need to do today—"

Will put his hand on my shoulder. "Not to worry, we're going to take care of your chores for today."

I blinked, stunned for a moment. "Mr. D's not just going to let you—"

"For one day, it'll be fine." Will interrupted again.

"I don't want you guys to get in trouble—"

It was Dan who interrupted this time. "It's our birthday. We deserve a break. Which is why I came over. I made sure that my slate is totally clean for today."

"Well, don't you want to celebrate with your friends—" I tried.

"Gee, I'm starting to think you don't _want_ to celebrate our birthday, Sis," Dan joked.

I cringed and shook my head. "Don't…don't call me that," I muttered. " _Bro_." I added, giving him a look. Dan laughed. Will just smiled and rolled his eyes. "Seriously though, I'm still on-call. If Mr. D needs me to do something, I can't say no. Even if it is my birthday." It was like he knew I was talking about him. Which, to be fair, he probably did. My nose filled with the scent of grapes. That was how he paged me, so to speak. Only I'd be able to smell it, though, so I never really told anyone how I knew he was calling me.

"Speak of the devil," I muttered. My nose filled with the smell of grapes so violently, I sneezed.

"Victoria, come on—" Dan started.

"I have to go. I'm sorry." Before either Will or Dan could stop me I turned and quickly exited the cabin.

I was dreading what Mr. D might want. Usually if he was calling me to the Big House, that meant he had a mission. Ugh, a mission, on my birthday, no less. It suited my luck these days.

When I got inside, Mr. D and Chiron were playing pinochle. Mr. D looked grumpier than usual, which is saying a lot. He also looked like he was pouting, which was odd. I didn't think I'd ever seen him pout before. Chiron, on the other hand was practically glowing. He had a big smile and was whistling Paganini Caprice #17 in E-flat for solo violin.

I was so confused, I almost forgot to kneel, but thankfully remembered at the last minute.

"My lord," I said quickly, straightening up and looking at Mr. D for instructions. There was a brief moment of just Chiron's whistling before Mr. D pushed an unopened can of Diet Coke toward the edge of the table. I looked at it, then back at the wine god.

"My lord?" I asked, still extremely confused.

"Well, it isn't going to open itself, is it?" he grouched, eyes flickering up to glare at me momentarily.

"No, my lord," I responded automatically before stepping forward and opening up the can for him. I stepped back and waited.

"Dismissed," Mr. D grumbled, snatching up the can and taking a big swig.

I _almost_ protested but caught myself and kneeled instead. "Yes, my lord." I kneeled to our activities director. "Chiron."

As I opened the door, Chiron called, "Victoria." I paused and looked back at the table. "Happy birthday." He gave me a kindly smile.

I couldn't help but smile back. "Thank you." Dan was waiting on the porch of the Apollo cabin when I got back.

"So…the verdict?" he asked, looking worried.

I shrugged. "He…asked me to open his can of Diet Coke."

Dan grinned, all concern melting from his features. "Great, so you're totally free?"

I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it would seem I am. And what do you suppose we do, brother mine?"

Dan insisted I got to breakfast since I hadn't eaten yet. Like I said, I got up early to do that bathrooms, which meant before breakfast. Of course, I didn't mind, it was actually quite enjoyable. My pain was at a tolerable level right now and having Dan back with the Apollo cabin was like having two suns. (No pun intended, swear on the Styx.) With his easy-going nature and out-going personality that came with being a part of the theater scene, he did a good job of cheering people up and making them laugh.

It was something we definitely could use. Especially since everything that'd happened, and well, with them having to deal with my constant fuck-ups and break-downs. I was glad that my brother could help them forget about all that. Viola really took to him, too. He was much better than me with kids. I may have helped her that first night here, but that had been mostly channeling my mom, it had nothing to do with me. Dan was much more natural with children, it was like he just _knew_ how to interact with them.

It was probably the most fun I'd had since August.

After breakfast my siblings went off to do my chores (I tried to object again, to which I got some serious glares) and Dan pulled me over to the canoe lake. We sat on the end of pier and just chatted. More like Dan talked about his life as a normal young adult as opposed to a demigod. I'm sure if I tried to tell him about my life as Mr. D's PA Dan would probably kill me. Anyway, he caught me up on the latest friend-group drama, his girlfriend, and told me a lot of funny stories about slip-ups and flubs during productions.

Like the time during _Ordinary People_ , when he forgot his dark grey shirt and instead had his light grey one (his shirt went from black to white throughout the play, signifying his character's healing process), forcing the assistant stage manager to run across backstage to the dressing room and back in less than ten seconds. She'd made it with three seconds to spare.

Or the time during one of the runs of _Guys and Dolls_ when the girl playing Adelaide didn't come on stage in time because she was having trouble with her costume, so Dan had to improvise some of his lines. There's a song in the play called "A Bushel and A Peck" that Adelaide sings, and Dan's character, Nathan, while waiting for her after a show sings, "I love you, a bushel and a peck. That lousy Joey Biltmore, I'm gonna wring his little neck." That was the actor's cue to then come on. However, Dan explained she was having issues with her costume. So he had to improvise, because dead air on stage is a bad thing, and added, "I'm gonna throw him in a lake, and beat him with a rake." That got a huge laugh out of the audience.

Hearing about Dan recount these stories and more almost felt _normal_.

"Oh, and by the way," Dan began. "All my friends thought you did a _fantastic_ job. They want you back."

I half-snorted, half-laughed and rolled my eyes. "Yeah, sure. I wasn't actually _acting_ , you know." There was a small pause. "There wasn't any trouble with the…um, Mist, was there? No memories of glowing red, dog-headed monsters or anything?"

Dan shrugged. "Nope. They all remember it slightly different, but no one's questioned it. As far as I can tell, the audience thought it was some kind of magic trick, the way he burst into dust. Your little Mist-tentacles did good work."

I gave my brother a weird look. "'Mist-tentacles'?" I asked.

"What? You didn't notice? When you were working the Mist on Luther, thick, white Mist was emanating from your right hand, like tentacles—right out the door and, I assumed, to any mortal who'd just seen what'd happened on stage. _I_ almost believed what you were saying."

I turned my hand over and looked at the rune on my wrist, stroking it with my thumb. Strange.

"Well, you tell your friends, if they ever need to dispose of a monster, they know who to call," I replied slapping Dan on the back. Only, I didn't realize how much force I'd put into my hit, or that Dan was balancing precariously on the edge of the pier for reasons beyond me.

Dan lost his balance and before I knew what was happening there was a loud splash and my twin was gasping and splashing in the lake, trying to gather his bearings. I quickly stood, putting my hands over my mouth in shock, but also to hide my smile and stifle my laughter.

"You did that on purpose!" Dan shouted, glaring up at me, but there was a grin on his face.

"…no, I…I s-swear—" I broke off, a bout of giggles bubbling to the surface.

Dan gave me a look. "Help me out, then?" He swam closer to the pier and held out his hand. I looked down at him in mock contemplation.

I took a moment to get over my laughing spell before I managed, "I just don't know…" while shaking my head.

"Victoria, come on, it's freezing. Help me out."

I shook my head again. "No, I don't think I will." I turned and started to walk away, but stopped when I heard Dan take a deep breath and then what sounded like him submerging himself. I looked over my shoulder cautiously to see him nowhere in sight, confirming my suspicion. My eyes narrowed.

I turned back around and took a step toward the edge of the pier again. What was he up to?

Note to self: Never ask yourself a question that you don't want the answer to.

"Dan—?" I started to ask just as a wave of cold lake water came rushing up on my left, effectively dousing my entire body. I screamed in surprise and from the shock and the cold.

" _Daniel Blake Williams!_ " I shrieked as I blinked water out of my eyes just in time to see Dan and one of the naiads that resided in the lake do a double high-five. The naiad then turned to me and shot water at me. I stepped back to avoid her spray and looked up to glare at her, but when I met her eyes, I was suddenly transported back four years.

The middle of summer, with the trees full of the greenest leaves you'd ever seen. The lake, clear and beautiful, glistening in the sun. And me and Luke, sitting in separate canoes that floated side-by-side, talking. The wind suddenly picks up, blowing through the leaves, causing ripples on the surface of the lake, causing my hair to fly around my face, carrying Luke's beautiful laugh toward me.

Luke reaches forward, brushing hair from my face before leaning forward, toward me, as to kiss me. I respond and lean toward him. But we're suddenly broken up as a naiad appears between our two canoes, tilting mine so much so I go flying into the water.

I blinked and was transported back to the present. In front of me Dan and the same naiad from my flashback were still celebrating. I felt my heart beat painfully in my chest. My throat and lungs constricted. My heart beat again, like it was going in slow motion, but each beat caused vibrations that reverberated in my ribs, spreading through my very bones.

I fell to one knee, gasping, my hand going up to my chest finding and gripping the chain of the necklace Luke had given me. I felt the hollow ache start to consume me once again. Suddenly Dan was there, putting his hands on my shoulders, asking me…something, probably what was wrong. Blindly, I reached up, gripping his arm with my free hand, using him as an anchor.

Slowly, my gasps died down. The ribbon around my lungs, the hand around my throat let go and I could breathe again. The hollow feeling contracted back into the spot in my chest. I let go of my necklace, placing it back under my shirt.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, I looked up at Dan, who was looking down at me with worry.

"I'm okay," I assured him. "Also," I put my other hand on his other arm before shoving him back into the water. When he'd come up and gathered his bearings again, I finished with, "You're a jerk!"

"Victoria!" Dan called as I walked away, back to the cabin to dry off and get a change of clothes. "Come on! That's not fair!"

I ignored him, instead opting to flip him off. He caught up to me a few feet away from the Apollo cabin.

"I was genuinely worried about you, you know," he stated very matter-of-factly.

"I know, and I was genuinely having a panic attack," I replied in the same tone. Dan opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "I appreciate that you were there for me." I looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you."

He smiled back and pulled me into a side-hug. "Of course."

Dan let me towel off and change first. Just as well, because as soon as he closed the bathroom door (to dry off and change into some of Austin's clothes because he was the best-fit), I collapsed onto my bed in pain. The cold of the water, though now gone, had exacerbated my chronic pain. Not moving and just focusing on my breathing helped, but I wasn't sure what would help the pain. Would it just go away by itself? Probably, but by then, our birthday day would be done and over. I didn't want to spend the rest of the day, curled up on my bed. Dan had come over to see me, to celebrate.

At the same time, I didn't want to risk ambrosia or nectar. I was too scared that something would happen, that Will wouldn't be there to pull me away from the precipice. Having Dan here reminded me why I was still alive, what I was still fighting for. And that's not to say that I didn't love all my half-siblings, it was just, because Dan was biologically, wholly my brother—my _twin_ —we shared a special bond that I didn't have with our other siblings.

I felt a warm had rest on my arm, chasing some of the pain away. I groaned and rolled over onto my other side, opening my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, reminding myself that breathing was a good thing and forcing air in and out of my lungs. "I'm just…in a lot of pain right now."

Dan knelt next to my bed, putting his hand on my arm again. His eyebrows furrowed with worry.

"Does nectar or ambrosia help?"

"Yes, but—" I broke off and bit my lip. I didn't want to tell him what'd almost happened, but he deserved to know, so I took a deep breath and recounted what had transpired a few days ago. Dan was quiet the whole time, half-way through, his face smoothed into an unreadable mask. When I was done, he was silent for a long time. His hand still rested on my arm bringing with it some reprieve. At least in that one section of my arm.

"Have you tried normal meds?" he finally asked, his face clearing. It was my turned to furrow my eyebrows. I shook my head. "Mom used to give them to us when we had headaches or were sick, so I figured if they worked then, they should still work now." Dan stood and I watched as he got his backpack and brought it back to the side of my bed.

My brother sat down and started rummaging through one of his pockets before pulling out a small baggie with an assortment of brightly colored little pills. I felt stupid for not thinking of that sooner. Of course, I knew they'd work. Like Dan had said, our mom gave us pills when we were younger and it did help. We were still half-human, after all.

I slowly sat up, grimacing at the usage of my muscles and held out my hand. Dan opened the baggie and pulled out a red, oval-shaped pill, putting it into my palm.

"I'll get you a glass of water," he said, setting his backpack aside and standing up. I stared down at the pill in my hand. It'd been so long since I'd used human medicine. I'd become so used to sipping some nectar, taking a square of ambrosia, to fix my battle wounds that it never occurred to me I could still use this kind of medicine.

"Here." Dan handed me the glass of water. I popped the pill into my mouth and took a big drink of water, swallowing hard. "It'll take a bit to set in, but I hope it helps in some way."

"Thanks, Dan." I gave him a small smile, which he returned.

I didn't want to move until the meds kicked in, but Dan insisted I eat _something_ , so he helped me to the dining pavilion where we had a quick lunch. Then it was back to our cabin, where we sat on the steps and watched the camp's buzz.

It was strange—as we were sitting down I realized that my brain had either adapted to my pain, or the meds had finally kicked in. Or both. I was so relieved I could've cried. I'd found an alternative. While it wouldn't take the pain away completely, and I was afraid there were going to be days where it wouldn't work at all, at least I'd found something that would _help_.

"Time to open presents?" Dan said suddenly, looking like an excited kid on Christmas Eve, interrupting my thoughts.

I rolled my eyes, but smiled. "Sure, just let me go get mine." I stood and darted into cabin, rummaging through my chest for what I'd planned to give him when our birthday had come. Just because I'd forgotten it was today didn't mean I hadn't been thinking about what I could get him. Especially because I'd missed two of his while I'd been helping Luke.

I grabbed the two items before coming back out and taking a seat next to Dan again. I handed over one of the two items with a smile. Dan looked back at me with a mix of confusion and an expression that said, "You're joking, right?"

"You know I can't use this," he said, shaking the iPhone I'd just handed him.

I grinned wider. "I had the Hecate cabin enchant it. And this one, too." I held up my phone. "It'll limit the actual capabilities, but from what Lou Ellen told me, we should be able to communicate with each other. I was _hoping_ I could've gotten the Hephaestus cabin to craft something that would work like a regular phone and mute the signal, but seeing as they can't even make a paper airplane without it bursting into flames, I figured it'd be better to wait."

Also, considering they kind of hated my guts and not only blamed me for Beckendorf's death, but also their curse that made the paper airplane thing true, it would've been pretty hard to convince them to forge something that complicated. I was planning on bribing them majorly, seeing as I went out into the real world almost on a day-to-day basis, but after having the Hecate cabin enchant my watch, I figured they could do the same with phones.

"It's temporary, but I figured, maybe if we had a more convenient way to communicate we'd both be happier." I shrugged.

Dan smiled. "Thanks."

"And my other gift is you can pick a song and I'll sing it for you. I know it sounds kind of…arrogant, I guess, but I know how much you like hearing me sing and I don't do it that often—"

"I'd really enjoy that, thank you," Dan interrupted. "My friends are so tired of me talking about how much I enjoy your singing. They're surprised you haven't pursued some career in it already." He gave me a pointed look.

I sighed and looked away, out across the green as campers went to and from their cabins. "You know I can't do that." I told him quietly. "Not right now. Even if this were to ever blow over, I don't know—" Dan put a hand on my shoulder and I looked back at him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," he apologized, giving my shoulder a squeeze. I tried for a reassuring smile back.

"It's all right."

Dan removed his hand and we lapsed into silence for a moment. I nudged him with my shoulder.

"Okay, you're turn." I prompted.

"Wow, impatient much," he teased. I casually flipped him off to which his jaw dropped in an over-exaggerated expression of shock. I simply grinned at him. After getting over his "shock" and shaking his head, he stood. "I've got to go get them, I'll be right back."

"You couldn't have done that when I did?" I called as he ran into the Apollo cabin. Dan ignored me, so I turned to face front again, grumbling about younger brothers and how annoying they could be sometimes.

When I heard the door, I started to turn, but Dan exclaimed, "Don't look, it'll spoil the surprise."

I paused before deciding not to look. Dan took a seat next to me before giving me a ticket. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were comp tickets to his theater's next play. Or rather musical: _Les_ _Misérables_.

"I wouldn't have been able to see this anyway," I told him dryly, lifting an eyebrow. Dan rolled his eyes and shoved me playfully with his shoulder. I smiled and shoved back. "Okay, so who are you?"

" _I'm Javert!_ " he sang dramatically.

"All right, all right, Sideburns, calm down," I commented, snickering when Dan gave me a look at his new nickname. "Did Antoinette get a part, too?"

Dan's eyes lit up and he nodded. "Her first major role. She's Eponine."

Antoinette and Dan were dating (remember the girlfriend I mentioned earlier?). They'd first met in the theater when Dan had started school, and Dan had taken a liking for her because of her optimistic and happy disposition. She was an international student from Malaysia and had chosen the name Antoinette. Thus far, she'd only gotten minor roles and chorus roles, so her getting a major role must've been exciting for both of them.

"Tell her I said congratulations," I said. "I'm excited to see it! You'll have to send me a picture of those sideburns, though, when you get to dress-rehearsal." Dan snorted at my remark. "I'm being serious! You have to admit, those things are _huge_."

Dan looked away and rolled his eyes, but he was fighting a smile. "My friends are never gonna let me live it down," he muttered like a small child, which made me laugh. "Okay, if you've had your fill of laughing _at_ me today, I have the second half of your present."

"What is it?"

Dan reached behind me and grabbed our mom's guitar. Well, actually, _my_ guitar.

It had become mine after our mom had died and I usually didn't let anyone touch it. Not even my half-siblings. Dan could, because he was my twin brother, but anyone else, they'd have to face my wrath if my guitar wasn't returned to me in better condition than they'd taken.

Everyone at camp, and I mean _everyone_ , knew not to mess with my guitar. It meant too much to me.

When I'd left, Dan had taken care of it, to which I was forever grateful. Sometimes he did more than needed to be done, and I appreciated him for that.

I was about to make a sarcastic comment about how this wasn't a present because I already owned it, but looking at the guitar longer, I realized it looked…almost brand new. I snatched it from him and examined it closer. It _looked_ brand new, but it felt familiar in my hands. As I inspected, I recognized all the little scuffs and marks that made it unique to the Williams family.

The mark on the underside of the body where I had accidentally held it over a candle's flame. The spiral scorch on the back of the body where Dan had accidentally set it on the hot stove because he'd been distracted by something else. The scratch marks on the front of the body when a butterfly had landed on it and a dog who'd been chasing the butterfly attacked it. The alternating marks from a screwdriver indicating the fret numbers because of mom had bought one without them and I had gotten annoyed. It even still had that uneven fade because my mom had set the stand next to a lamp she had on almost all the time in her room.

"I had it tuned up, polished, but made sure to keep all the things that made it yours," Dan explained. "Took it to a shop near the college. The girl, Jasmine, is a legacy of Apollo, so she was careful and listened to me when I told her what I wanted done."

I felt tears pool in my eyes as I looked up at Dan.

"Thank you," I just barely managed to choke out, suddenly feeling like my gifts were insignificant compared to his. I moved the guitar so we could embrace.

As we pulled back, Dan asked, "Will you sing?"

I smiled as I brought the guitar back into my lap so I could hold it correctly. "Do you have a song in mind?" I queried.

"You choose."

"Are you sure?" Dan nodded. "Okay…" I looked out across the green, my mind flipping through all the songs I knew, could sing and play on the guitar, and liked. One kept coming back to me. I'd heard it on the radio a ton of times and it'd really hit home so I'd taken to composing it for an acoustic version, not having heard one myself.

I shifted again, positioning my hands and fingers. My nerves suddenly shot through the roof because I realized that I hadn't had the time to play since I'd gotten chronic pain (I'd been busy with… _other_ things; maybe that's how Dan had had it repaired without my knowledge, too), so I wasn't sure how it would affect my playing. What if I couldn't play anymore? My blood ran cold and I swallowed hard, trying to get my brain to calm down and rationalize.

Well, I was doing all right holding it. Surely if I could fight with my weapons still—sorta—I'd be able to play guitar. Maybe it was like my weapons in that certain movements would cause me pain, so I just needed to avoid those. Though, I hadn't even thought about it until now, so I was unsure of what movements _would_.

I guess I might find out now.

I took a deep breath, shifted again, and started to play "Fix You" by Coldplay, despite being on the steps of the Apollo cabin, out in the open. I fell into the trance I usually did when I sang, only this time letting all my emotion spill into the words.

When I finished the song and the sound from my last strum had faded into silence, I blinked and realized that beside me, Dan had his head bowed, hand shielding his eyes, but it did no good to hide the fact that he was crying.

I looked at him in stunned silence, trying to think of what to say.

"Don't…don't cry," I stuttered, feeling uncomfortable. He laughed at my comment. "I don't…understand—"I broke off when he pulled me into a tight hug, forcing me to move the guitar out of the way. He was still crying, but also laughing.

"That was _beautiful_ ," he murmured in my ear before pulling back and wiping his eyes. "That's all. I'm fine."

I frowned. I knew music could move people to tears. It'd moved me to tears plenty of times. But I didn't think I had the capability to do that to others. Had I possibly been using my skills as a child of Apollo? I didn't _feel_ exhausted, per se. I glanced down at the rune on my wrist. Did that help me from being drained? No, in fact, the more I used it, the more I felt drained, so it couldn't be that.

"Can we go inside now," I muttered. People were starting to stare, I assume, wondering what was going on. They were making me uncomfortable.

Dan nodded, chuckling. "Yeah, sure." Together we stood, Dan wiping his eyes and sniffling, and headed back into the Apollo cabin, both with our physical presents in hand.

When we got inside, I noticed there were two things sitting on my bed.

"No way." Dan and I whispered together before rushing up to my bed. My hand automatically went for the beautiful, smooth recurve bow. Dan reached for and opened what looked to be a rectangular case that held an instrument. I got a glimpse of a violin before I turned back to my bow.

All of it, even the bowstring was black. Upon closer inspection, though, at certain angles of the light it would flash like it was weaved with metal. Celestial bronze, maybe?

I held it out, like I was going to shoot. It felt _right_ in my hand, like it'd been made for me. It was bigger than the ones camp made, though. I frowned bringing it toward me. How was I going to conceal it? It would be cumbersome to sling it over my shoulder at this size.

Like magic, as I thought this, the bow began to shrink right before my eyes. It got smaller and thinner as it wrapped around my middle finger like a snake. When it had finally finished its transformation, it looked like a simple, metal, black spiral ring.

I blinked, staring down at my newly acquired jewelry, not quite believing something so small could turn into something so big and beautiful. Even after everything I'd been through as a demigod.

True magic items were rare. Sure you could enchant something, but to make something like my bow-ring? That was craftsmanship laced with pure magic.

Just to see if I wasn't hallucinating, I held out my hand like I was holding a bow. My ring spiraled out and before I knew it, I was actually holding a bow again.

"Whoa." I murmured.

I looked over at Dan, who was holding what looked to be a Stradivari in awe, but something wasn't quite right about it. On one of the sides, there was some kind of writing in tiny lettering that was, frankly, hard to read: Baroque, Classic, Stroh, Electric, and Echo. The first four clicked as types of violins, but the last one threw me for a loop. I didn't quite understand that one. And what were they doing there? The thing they looked like most were labels, but for what? The violin?

I reached forward without really thinking and brushed my finger over the Classic lettering. With Dan still holding it, it shimmered and the features changed slightly to resemble that of a classic violin. Dan's eyes widened even more.

"How did you do that?" he whispered. I pointed at the labels in silence. Dan quickly turned the violin so he could see the labels. After a moment of squinting, he looked up at me questioningly. "Echo?"

I shrugged, glancing at the open violin case that also held a bow for the violin. I picked it up and examined it—seemed like your average bow—before holding it out to Dan.

"Test it out?" I suggested.

Dan brushed his finger on the Echo label before taking the bow. The violin shimmered but nothing seemed to change about it. Dan still giving me a confused look lifted the violin to his chin and held the bow over the strings for a second. Then he closed his eyes and began to play Bach's Chaconne, Partitia for Violin No. 2 (BWV 1004).

The label, Echo, had been apt, because the sound that came from the violin echoed like we were standing in an empty theater or church rather than a cabin. Dan was so startled by the sound, he abruptly stopped playing.

I wanted him to keep going. Instead, he set his violin and bow back into the case. I let my bow spiral back into a ring on my middle finger.

"You do know who these are from, right?" Dan asked quietly.

"With the craftsmanship and magic involved to make these?" I answered with my own question. "I, unfortunately, have a guess." I finished in a deadpan.

Dan rolled his eyes. "Can't you be the least bit grateful? That ring-bow is _amazing_ and something you would definitely use. A lot."

"I can _be grudgingly_ grateful," I quipped. It was a _very_ nice gift. A _very_ nice magic item. And Dan was absolutely right, it was suited to me well. Apollo had done something right for a change. But I'd ever get myself to say any of this out loud. Not even to my brother.

Dan scoffed. "I guess that'll have to do." He leaned down to close the case before straightening up and pulling me into a hug. I tensed, not expecting the sudden contact. "Happy Birthday, Victoria."

Slowly, I unthawed and put my arms around him and murmured, "Happy Birthday, Dan."

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so not only did that take forever (or feel like it anyway), but it's also uncomfortably long. But I also didn't want to break it up because none of the breaks really seemed natural enough. So…here.
> 
> Some things to note, first off, I've joined a PJO/HOO Big Bang, and because I'm on a deadline, I'll be focusing more on that than this story. I'll still write for this story, of course, but I'll be devoting more time to the other one (until the end of the Big Bang), which means less frequent updates. I do apologize for that, but it was something I had really wanted to try. (I do admit, I may have bitten off more than I could chew.) Once again, _I'll still write for this story_ , I just don't know when I'll be updating. Which is also one of the reasons I left this at 13 pages, because you've been patient with me (and hope you will continue to do so) and because of this Big Bang business.
> 
> Second, there's an [acoustic version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYR8Y4eWlTIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYR8Y4eWlTI) of "Fix You" on YouTube I found that best fits what I imagine Tori sounded like for the song as far as the guitar playing goes. Some parts of the vocals I don't particularly like and would've changed (but as far as singer goes, she's pretty fantastic).
> 
> Third, the two theater stories I described actually happened to me while I was in high school helping out with my theater's productions. I was the assistant stage manager who had to sprint to get the shirt (that was heart-pounding, let me tell you). The _Guys and Dolls_ one, though, happened during a rehearsal, not during an actual show.
> 
> All right, that's all for now! As always, hope you enjoyed! (I'll update as soon as I can.)
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	9. Darkness Before the Dawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **TRIGGER WARNING:** thoughts and contemplation of suicide, mention of self-harm

I looked around the Aphrodite cabin—spotless as always. I would never get used to the pastels, though. I admit they went well together, but I wasn't a pastel kind of person. Also, the air was heavy with whatever perfume they sprayed around, so I felt like I was choking. It was more out of habit than anything that I came into the cabin at all to do inspections.

I looked down at my parchment and gave them a five, as usual. As I was doing so, I heard the door go behind me.

"I'm just finishing up," I said, turning but not looking up just yet. "I'll be out in a mo—"

The parchment and pen fell from my numb hands and I sucked in a sharp breath as my deep brown eyes locked with a pair of crystal blue ones that I knew better than the back of my hand. The parchment fluttered to the floor, but the pen clattered, making me flinch. My heart squeezed so painfully in my chest I thought it was going to burst. I felt my demons break free of their cage and start clawing their way up my throat. My eyes filled to the brim with tears, and my throat closed completely. The strange white-noise quality of my chronic pain increased until all I could feel was static.

Luke stepped inside fully, not taking his eyes off of me, as he slowly closed the door. I couldn't read the expression on his face. His eyes, his beautiful blue eyes, swirled with emotion I couldn't decipher.

He took a step toward me and I took a step back, my heart beating wildly and painfully against my ribcage.

"No," I whispered shakily, shaking my head, my own voice sounding muted. Luke took another step toward me and I took another step back. And then another and another and another, until I was pressed up against the wall. I didn't want to take my eyes off him because I was afraid that he was either going to disappear completely or suddenly be standing right in front of me.

Luke opened his mouth to speak, but I wasn't going to let him.

"No," I repeated. "No, no, no." Over and over again. I wasn't going to let him speak. I wasn't going to let him get close enough to touch me. My whole body was trembling so badly I could barely stand, and I couldn't tell if it was because of the pain or the situation I was currently in. Most likely both, in all honesty.

Luke started moving toward me, then, no more hesitance in his gait.

"Stay back!" I yelled, holding out a hand as a signal to stop, sinking lower to the floor, but pushing against the wall to keep myself somewhat standing. Luke paused momentarily, before taking another careful step toward me. "No! _Please._ You're dead!"

Pain flashed across his face and in his eyes. "Don't say that."

His voice was like getting hit by a truck. My knees buckled, my tears overflowed, my heart stuttered painfully in my chest. The static burst, leaving me breathless. I felt sobs build up in the back of my throat.

"You're dead," I repeated, mostly to myself. "You're dead. _You're dead._ This isn't happening." I sobbed, curling to the floor, hugging myself as my demons tried to rip me apart. As if the pin-pricks weren't enough.

Luke came closer, still, and I gasped, launching to my feet. I darted around him and made a b-line to the door, but he was quick. I felt his arm grab me around the waist and pull me into him.

"No!" I shrieked, trying to break free of his grasp, beating uselessly at his arm.

"Shh, shh," Luke crooned. "Tori, Tori, it's all right."

It was like that ancient Chinese torture—death by a thousand cuts. His voice, his touch, every time he spoke, every time he said my name, sliced into my like the dagger he'd gifted Annabeth.

My struggles became weak, but my sobbing didn't cease.

"No," I gasped through tears. "No, no. You're dead. You can't _be_ here. You're _dead_."

Both his arms held me around the waist, flush against him. I could feel his breath- the barest hint of his lips—on my neck.

"Let me go, please, let me go." My arms hung at my sides. I couldn't move anymore. The pain of those proverbial cuts were leeching all my energy. My tears weren't coming as quick now.

"I wish you would stop saying that," Luke murmured in my ear, making my shudder.

"It's true," I whispered back.

"Mmm," Luke hummed, pressing his lips to my neck. I tensed, my hands fisting, a breath hissing through my teeth before another sob broke through my lips. Luke's arms tightened around my waist. "Why are you so sad?" His voice was hurt, broken.

I closed my eyes, more tears streaming down my cheeks as my mind forced me to relive the night he died.

"You died," I choked.

"No—"

"I was there!" I snapped, pulling away from him but not turning around.

I _couldn't_ look at him again. If I did, I might never—

"Tori—"

" _Don't_ call me that!" I snapped again. "You _died_. I was _right_ beside you. I held you in my arms…" My voice broke and another sob escaped. A fresh wave of tears filled my eyes and the eternal ache that had formed after Luke's passing increased ten-fold. "You were so scared." I gasped, my knees giving out again. I slowly sunk to the floor, one arm around my stomach, my other hand covering my mouth. "And I watched…I _watched_ as the light…faded from your eyes."

He was there suddenly, like he always had been, to comfort me. His calloused hand caressed my face gently, wiping away my tears with his thumb. I tried to pull away but my effort left much to be desired. I didn't even break contact with him this time.

"No, Luke, don't—" I gasped between sobs, my tears blurring his features.

"I'm right here," Luke whispered, pulling me into him.

I let him this time, resting my forehead against his chest. My hands came up and gripped the front of his shirt in my fists.

"You died," I sobbed. "You died."

Luke didn't respond this time. Instead, he stroked my hair, his free hand resting on the back of my shoulder.

"No," I sobbed again, my weeping growing in volume. "No." Over and over again, I repeated that until it turned into a long, drawn-out shriek.

With a choked gasp that could've woken up the whole camp, I bolted upright in my bed. My heart was hammering against my chest. I could feel my whole body trembling. The prickles seemed worse than in my dream, somehow. But it was the hollow ache in my chest that was the most prominent thing at the moment.

It felt like I'd been sobbing, but my eyes were completely dry.

"Victoria?" a sleepy voice asked. I jumped and looked over to my left to see Cressida. Kayla was also stirring.

The lights flickered on and soon all my siblings, half-awake, were shuffling over to my bed as I sat there, tangled up in covers, having a panic attack. The closer they got, the more questions they asked, the more it felt like the walls were closing in. The more I couldn't breathe.

As my gasps got bigger and deeper, I could feel my head filling up with air, trying to pull away from my body.

Without a word, I threw my blankets off me and tumbled out of my bed, stumbling and struggling to get a pair of shoes and put them on, all while avoiding my siblings. I had to push away their hands, their questions and concerns falling on deaf ears. I shoved through them to get to the door, nearly falling out onto the porch and slamming the door behind me. I'd been in such a rush, I hadn't even grabbed _any_ of my weapons.

Then I was running.

I wasn't quite sure where I was going, but I let my feet carry me. I stopped at the crest of Half-Blood Hill. I saw that to the East, the sky was lighter than the sky to the West—though no mortal would be able to tell the difference at this time.

I faced the road, next to camp. This high up…I wondered if this were, say, a cliff, or perhaps the roof of a building…

I looked down at my feet, slowly and carefully lifting one up and forward, balancing on my other foot.

Would I step off?

I lifted my foot as if taking a step off that cliff or that roof. I was about to lean forward when suddenly something large bumped into my side, nearly knocking me sideways. I set my foot on the ground to steady myself and looked over to my left, startled.

Peleus was there, snorting and…there it was again, that odd whining sound that reminded me of a dog. He nudged me again, gentler this time before he made that whining noise again. This time he tilted his head along with the sound.

Was it just me or did this giant guard-dragon look…worried? For me?

True or not, the very thought was the straw that broke the back's camel, so to speak. Before I could stop them, sobs exploded from my lips, tears pouring down my cheeks. I lifted a hand up and covered my mouth as more sobs made their way out. My demons roared and broke free of their cage. I could feel the hole in my chest expand again, splitting me in half, and I sunk to the ground, putting my free hand around my torso.

The ache was bad this time, so bad I could barely breathe. The only sound I could comprehend was my weeping. The cold night air surrounded me like a blanket of ice, not helping the static, the pin-pricks, but suddenly was replaced by surprising warmth.

I lifted my head slightly, just so I could see what was going on and realized that Peleus had lumbered over and wrapped his body around me, as if I'd become the tree he was supposed to protect. He nudged me with his head again, making that whine-like sound. Gasping through my tears, I reached out with the hand that had been covering my mouth and gently put it on Peleus's body. The warmth was comforting, it chased away the static, at the very least.

More sobs, more tears built up inside me and I let it come. I leaned into Peleus, his warmth, and used him as my anchor so I could let go and get lost in my sorrow for a while. I always needed one when I could no longer keep it in.

Nico had told me a while ago that a good way of dealing with grief was to let myself get lost in it for a while, so long as I could come back. So whenever I needed to feel my grief completely and wholly, I held someone's hand or put my hand on their shoulder or held their arm. My anchor always needed to be something living and warm, though. I'd tried inanimate objects that still had meaning to me, but it wasn't the same.

When I had exhausted myself enough that I stopped sobbing, the hole had contracted and my demons had retreated back into their cage, I dozed, still resting against Peleus. His warmth helped with my other pain.

At some point—I don't know how long—Peleus nudged me awake. I blinked the sleep from my eyes and looked around, disoriented for a moment.

Peleus snorted, blowing smoke into the air. With his tail, he pointed toward the Long Island Sound. I shifted so I was sitting, still leaning against him, but now looking out over the camp, at the Sound. I wasn't quite sure what Peleus wanted me to see. The sky was still dark, but I felt it before I saw it: dawn was breaking.

Our guard-dragon snorted once more, resting his head down on the hill so that he, too, could watch as the sun peeked along the horizon. I rested my head against him and watched as well. I'd seen plenty of sunrises before—my mother loved the sunrise. Still, it was beautiful, and surprisingly calming. The colors that it turned the sky, that it covered the camp with, were breathtaking.

I peeked over at Peleus, who looked as content as could be.

I couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks, buddy," I murmured, patting him. He blinked happily and snorted again.

I sighed and looked back out at the horizon.

* * *

I sheathed my sword. "Class dismissed!" As the demigods sheathed their own swords and started putting away their gear, I went over to my bag and, with shaking hands, took out the bottle of pills I'd acquired since Dan left. Ibuprofen—it was the same kind of meds Dan had given me when he'd come over for our birthday.

I took a deep, shaky breath, trying to hide how much pain I was actually in from everyone else. That crying spell this morning had taken it out of me, but I also knew I couldn't deviate from my usual routine or Mr. D would have my head. I'd been managing this far, but the pain was starting to reach an unbearable level. I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it through the rest of the day, which worried me.

At the same time, I didn't want to be punished. Mr. D was a god. He was also unforgiving. It wasn't like he'd ever understand _why_ I couldn't finish out my day. Even if he understood what chronic pain meant, he'd never _experienced_ it and it wasn't like that would sway him from letting up on my punishment. If anything, he probably thought I deserved it.

Gripping the bottle of pills and gritting my teeth in frustration, I opened it up and popped two into my mouth before taking a big swig of water from my bottle. By now the arena had cleared out. As I was putting the cap on my water bottle, I heard someone approach from behind.

I quickly spun around, my hand going for my sword. It was TJ. I was a little surprised to see him here, but dropped my hands.

"You're wanted at the Big House, Victoria," TJ said, looking oddly nervous. Something was off.

I blinked, now confused. "What for?" I asked. Usually, if Mr. D wanted me at the Big House, he'd do that weird smell of grapes thing in my nose. This wasn't like him, to send a satyr.

"…it's, well it's complicated." TJ mumbled, wringing his hands nervously and shifting on his hooves.

"Right now?" I asked, sounding whinier than I had wanted. I still had a little time before my next chore, and had wanted to go lie down until the pain meds kicked in, hopefully allowing me to make it through the rest of the day. This still being a new thing to me, part of me hoped—wished, dreamed—that it would also completely take the pain away. Despite, rationally, knowing that it was never going to happen.

TJ nodded silently.

I sighed and threw my pills and water back into my back before slinging the strap over my shoulder. TJ walked alongside me as we exited the arena and started toward the Big House…at slower pace because my body _was not_ feeling it.

"So are you going to tell me why you're so nervous, or…?" I trailed off and looked over at TJ.

"Oh, well—" TJ looked at me briefly before looking away and rubbing his neck. "Chiron will explain everything."

That only left me with more questions, but I kept silent. Our going was slow because the more we walked, the more I slowed down. My body was yelling me, begging me to lie down. I was going to regret this later for sure, but I wanted to know what was going on. I wanted to know why Mr. D wasn't using his usual method of calling me to the Big House. And why TJ had mentioned Chiron explaining things to me.

By the time we got the Big House, I was considering taking another two pills.

I was so distracted by my pain that I didn't realize the sitting room had changed until I had already stepped through the threshold. But I stopped there, my heart plummeting to my feet. I could just feel all the blood drain my face, the coolness compared to its usual temperature was weird.

The front room was _covered_ in grape vines, almost like ivy. They crawled up the walls and across the ceiling, bursting with fat, red grapes. In the corner of the room was an old Pac-Man arcade game making pathetic noises and blinking annoyingly. Where the vines weren't coving the walls, there were masks, all kinds: the smiling/frowing Greek theater masks, brightly feather Mardi Gras masks, Venetian Carnevale masks with scary, big beaklike noses, hand-carved wooden masks that were probably from Africa, the list went on. The grapevines grew through the gaping mouths, grapes poking out through the eyeholes.

To top it all off, there was a leopard head mounted above the fireplace. It yawned letting out a snarl, but that wasn't what was making my heart pound, though it was _very_ strange. No, it was the _vines_. So many vines, _everywhere_. Was it just me or were they writhing?

The longer I stood in the threshold, my heart rate gained speed—faster, faster, faster.

My vision started going dark and I stumbled. The static burst again, before increasing to an intolerable level.

Someone was probably calling my name, but their voice was muted and far away. By the time I realized what was happening, I had almost passed out completely. I somehow managed to stagger back out of the door, nearly falling down the steps before I could stabilize myself. I gripped the railing, leaning heavily against it, panting and gasping. I could feel my whole body trembling, my heart fluttering behind my ribcage—all this simply exacerbating my pain.

I would definitely be needing more meds.

By the time I'd managed to calm down enough to see, let alone stand, both TJ and Chiron had come outside, Chiron in his centaur form. He and the satyr stood in front of me—sitting at the bottom of the steps that led up to the porch—looking down at me worriedly. Chiron's tail swished.

"I need to go lie down," I mumbled, reaching up to rub my forehead. "This has to wait." Without waiting for a response, I pushed myself to my feet, despite my protesting body, and started to make my way back to the cabins. I'd dropped my bag somewhere during what happened, but didn't have the energy to go get it. Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about it.

"TJ, will you kindly retrieve Victoria's bag and bring it back to her cabin?" I heard Chiron say as I left.

As soon as I got back to my cabin, I collapsed onto the bed, closing my eyes, willing myself to fall asleep.

* * *

Someone was shaking my shoulder. Slowly, I opened my eyes, blinking the sleep from them and squinting from the sudden bright lights of our cabin. Something nice about it, though, was it simulated natural sunlight. They'd been specially made by the kids from the Hephaestus cabin. Instead of those obnoxious fluorescent lights that hurt the eyes, they were like sunlight streaming through the window, and we could dim or brighten as much as we liked.

Groaning and sighing heavily—at least my pain was at a bearable level now—I turned my head to see who was waking me.

"Cressida?" I mumbled, still half-asleep.

She smiled kindly. "It's dinnertime."

I shot up, forcing Cressida back. "What?" I exclaimed, throwing my legs off the side of the bed and standing. "Chiron wanted to talk to me about something! I think it was important. But I…" I trailed off remembering what'd happened that'd postponed our talk. It wasn't clear. Pain and anxiety clouded it, making it dim like a bad photograph with all the color half-leeched. I did remember the leopard, the masks, the vines. I cringed.

Cressida gently grasped my arm. It was firm but comforting. "It can wait. If Chiron let you leave and rest, it can't be _that_ horribly important."

I looked around the cabin and realized that it was empty.

"They've all gone to dinner," she explained. "We should go, too."

I nodded silently before slowly heading toward the door. Cressida stayed by my side, her hand still holding my arm. I wasn't sure how to tell her that she didn't need to hold on to me without sounding like a jerk. As I thought about how to get out of her grasp without hurting her feelings, we'd made it through the door.

At the stairs, though, she said, "Be careful." her grip on my arm tightening ever so slightly.

I deftly slipped from her grasp, giving her a small smile to tell her I wasn't angry. "I think I can handle going down three steps." Not wanting to see her reaction, I quickly made my way down the stairs and picked up the pace as we walked toward the dining pavilion. She easily caught my stride, but said nothing about my outburst.

A plate of food was already waiting for me and her when we arrived at the table. I started to pick it up to throw an offering into the brazier when Will suddenly stood, reaching for my plate.

"Would you like me to help?" he asked.

I quickly pulled the plate away from him, picking it up and holding it closer to me. I frowned, my eyebrows furrowing in frustration and confusion.

"No, I got it, thanks." I said, maybe a little sharply. Will either ignored it or didn't even noticed because he simply nodded before sitting back down.

I went up to the brazier and threw all my grapes—which I noticed were in abundance tonight—into the fire, watching them burn for a moment.

"Apollo," I murmured. I turned away and sat down again, picking up my fork and knife. It was a steak tonight.

Beside me, Kayla bumped my shoulder. "Hey, if you need help cutting that, feel free to ask."

I looked at her strangely. "I'm good. But thanks anyway." I tried not to snap at her. As I started forcefully cutting into my steak, glaring down at it, I had to wonder why my siblings were trying to babysit me all of a sudden. It was only slightly annoying right now, but it was something that could easily become rage-inducing, I was sure.

It took me a moment to realize that it was quieter than usual. I looked up from my sliced and diced steak. Around the pavilion kids were whispering to each other, looking slightly worried. They were threw occasional glances up at the head table. When I looked too, I finally realized what the quiet buzz was all about—Mr. D wasn't there. It was just Chiron and a few satyrs. How strange.

Had Mr. D been called away from camp? Was there something wrong on Olympus? Chiron caught my gaze and gave me a meaningful look, a look that said he still wanted to speak to me about whatever was going on. I nodded slightly before going back to my meal.

Despite the atmosphere, when Chiron announced it was time for the campfire, the campers cheered and rushed down to the amphitheater. I stayed behind, waiting for everyone to clear out. I figured Chiron wanted to talk to me as soon as possible and I'd rather it be _anywhere_ other than the Big House. Honestly, I didn't think I'd be able to enter the Big House anymore, what with the new… _decorations_.

A few of my siblings lingered, but being in the Apollo cabin and leading the sing-along, they couldn't linger for long. Still, I didn't miss the worried looks they were giving me. For some reason instead of feeling grateful, I was feeling irritated and insulted. Did they think I couldn't take care of myself? I was older than all of them by at least 3, 4 years. What had gotten into them?

Chiron's hooves against the marble floor broke me from my thoughts. I looked up as he came toward me.

"Walk with me to the amphitheater?" he asked softly.

I nodded and stood, following him out. We took it slow.

"I'm…sorry about earlier," I muttered, looking down at my feet. "I just…couldn't—" I broke off cringing at the mere thought of that horrid room.

It wasn't just that Mr. D had tried to strangle me with his vines when I'd stood up against him sending me on missions to rescue demigods. Before all of that, before the Titan War, even, he'd done something similar. After it had been revealed Luke had stolen Zeus's lightning bolt and Hades's helm of darkness, and he'd tried to kill Percy before he'd escaped from camp, Zeus had thought it prudent I be…interrogated.

Mr. D, being the camp's director was put in charge of this. The thing that most people forgot about Mr. D was that he was also the god of madness. He'd thrown me into two of the many worst nights of my life—the night my mom died and the night I'd been strapped down to a bed in the mental ward because I had gone on about demon dogs. They were worried it was some kind of innuendo for self-harm.

He'd shown up when I was pinned down, replacing the soft cuffs with vines. As he asked me questions, if I struggled the vines tightened on my wrists and ankles. Not only that, but more vines had slithered their way onto the bed, over my body, constricting my airways. Basically, mental and physical torture.

I _hated_ vines. Any sort.

No more calming stroll through the strawberry fields for me.

"It's all right," Chiron assured in a gentle tone. "I just thought that you should know that Mr. D has been called back to Olympus for an indiscriminate amount of time." Our activities director paused. "That is also why the front room is…decorated as such."

I nearly stopped walking at the implication of his leaving. My punishment had specified to listen strictly to Mr. D. If he was no longer here to _give_ me those instructions…?

"Then…what does that mean for me?" I asked, surprisingly afraid of the answer.

Chiron sighed, which didn't instill confidence in me. "I'm not quite sure. He did leave a note, staying that he would like you to stay on your chores, but nothing else. I assume you won't be going on missions for him anymore. That is also the reason I wanted to talk to you. It sounds as if…you will be free to do what you like as long as you do our chores.

"I was hoping you'd fill some of your schedule by taking on more classes to teach. It would be a great help. I know you're used to going out into the real world at this point, but rules are rules, and because Mr. D is no longer here, I'm afraid they apply to you once again." For some reason, I found this disappointing. I'd been enjoying learning about pop culture, everything I'd missed since I'd come to camp, getting new music.

"However," Chiron continued in an almost playful tone. My head snapped up to look at him. He met my eyes with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "If it just so happens I don't see you leave, then I have no evidence to hold against you."

I almost laughed. "Thank you, Chiron."

"Of course," he said briskly, but with a small smile. "Now, there will be a meeting to organize schedules and class times tomorrow. Come to the Big House with Will. It will be held in the rec room, so if you are able to make it through the front room, I would greatly appreciate it if you attend."

I took a deep breath, my hands furling into fists. "I'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow." I managed as we came up to the amphitheater, the sing-along in full swing. The fire was pretty high and so hot I could feel it from where I stood. Chiron clopped past me, taking his place and I quietly went to take my place, in the front and off to the side.

As the night drew to a close, I felt anxiety build up inside of me. It was suffocating. I almost worked myself into a panic attack at least three times just walking from the amphitheater to the Apollo cabin. I was afraid I was going to have another dream like I'd had last night…was this my new punishment? Had the gods made it worse now that Mr. D was gone, reminding me to keep my place?

It was Austin's turn to come up to me and ask me if I needed help. This time it was with turning down the bed.

"It's fine, I've got it, really." I snapped, turning away from him and pulling the sheet off the bed with a little more force than necessary. Oh, yes, it was going to get quite annoying _quite_ quickly.

I had just pulled my sword from my waist when there was a knock at the door. It had startled me so much I half-unsheathed my sword before I realized there was no danger. Embarrassed, hoping no one noticed, I sheathed it and set it aside as Will went to go see who it was.

I had just pulled my pajamas from the chest at the end of my bed when Will called my name. I froze and turned toward the door, my pajamas still in my hands.

"What?" I asked, wondering who could be asking for me this late at night, right before lights out, no less.

Will smiled before opening the door wider to reveal four people, two were probably under the age of 12, the other two were head counselors for the Hermes and Hecate cabins—Travis this time, and Lou Ellen, respectively. I recognized Wally by Travis's side. I recognized the girl by Lou Ellen's side, too, but I couldn't recall her name at the moment.

I blinked, a bit slow on the uptake. When I finally realized why they were here, I asked, "Um…you don't mind if I sang here, do you?" addressing my siblings as well the campers standing outside.

They all exchanged glances, shaking their heads. Will invited the four inside. Viola ran up to me and threw herself into my arms. If I hadn't heard the pattering of her footsteps I probably wouldn't have even caught her. Still, I just barely managed to catch her, having to drop my pajamas onto the ground. I stumbled, as I usually did, and let out a breathy laugh to hide my pain.

All my siblings collectively gave me a worried look. I could just hear them all start to object, to ask if I needed help. Marking sure Viola wouldn't see, I glared at all of them, mouthing, "Back off." They didn't look convinced, but I was already done of their sudden overly-concerned nature.

"Whoa, there," I said, addressing Viola, "you gotta give me more of a warning, sweetie," I breathed, pulling back slightly to look at her, glad she wasn't treating me like glass. "I see you've been talking about me to the others around camp." I raised an eyebrow and smiled.

Viola giggled and hid her face in my neck. "Maybe a little." she mumbled.

"Why don't we sit down," I asked her, brushing some of her hair behind her ear. Viola nodded vigorously, clearly excited about this…lullaby gathering. I went over to the side of my bed and carefully sat down. It was difficult with Viola in my arms, and my body protested, but I managed to get down without hurting myself or Viola. I set her in my lap, and she snuggled up against me.

Travis and Lou Ellen came to sit in front of me, completing the triangle, holding their own siblings in their laps.

"All right, is there a song you guys have in mind?" I asked, when everyone was situated. I tried not to feel self-conscious with all my siblings watching, including Travis and Lou Ellen. I focused on the kids, which helped me relax.

"I think because this is Carly's first time, she should be able to pick the song," Viola said matter-of-factly.

"If that's all right with Wally," I said, looking over at him. He nodded.

"I just want to hear you sing again," he said with a wide, toothy smile. I'll admit it, I blushed a little at the compliment. It wasn't like people hadn't commented on how much they liked my singing, but I didn't take to compliments very well. I never knew how to respond or react. Also, usually I didn't like singing in front of other people, hence why I didn't perform with my siblings in the sing-along.

"Okay, that's settled, then." I looked over at Carly, who had fresh tear-stains on her cheeks. "Do you have a song in mind you'd like me to sing, sweetheart?"

Carly sniffled and wiped at her eyes, thinking. Then, "Do you _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_?" she asked in a quiet, shy voice. I nodded. Even among half-bloods, Disney was a fan-favorite. "I really like 'God Help the Outcasts.'"

Quite a pick.

I took a deep breath, leaning back against the frame of the bunk bed and began to sing. Like I usually did, I got lost in the music, able to block out everything and everyone around me. I felt less self-conscious, less embarrassed. It was in that moment I was reminded why I loved singing so much.

When it came to when the others who'd come to the church began to sing in the song, I was prepared to sing it myself, but, to my surprise, my siblings took up the chorus. I blinked, partially coming out of my spell, looking around at them as they sang. It was…actually really heartwarming.

Viola snuggled closer to me and closed her eyes. I reached up to stroke her hair and began singing, for my part had started again.

When the last note of the song faded out, Travis and Lou Ellen stood with sleeping kids in their arms.

"Thank you," Lou Ellen whispered with a smile. Having worked with me so much, what with giving me the rune and then helping me practice using the magic, she was kinder to me than others. It was nice.

Travis on the other hand, cleared his throat awkwardly and nodded, mumbling a quick, "Thanks."

"Have a good night," I replied softly, with a small smile. Will got the door as I stood up carefully, tucking Viola into her bunk. "This better not become a thing." I muttered, turning and going to pick up my dropped pajamas.

Someone snorted. I shot a glare over Lyra. Reed was next to her, covering his mouth, but it did nothing to hide his snickers.

" _What_ ," I snapped, keeping my voice quiet, though, for Viola's sake.

"I didn't say anything," Lyra protested, holding up her hands, but that only revealed her grin. Reed laughed harder, having to turn away.

I gritted my teeth but didn't push it. Instead I made my way into the bathroom to change.

As I slipped into bed, my anxiety returned. Would I have another dream like the one last night? What was worse was I couldn't decide if I'd rather have dreams about what Luke had done for Kronos, or Luke being alive again. I couldn't decide which one hurt more. Though I suppose…seeing Luke as if he were alive…just thinking about it made the hole in my chest expand, and my throat close up.

Despite my worries, today had been a _long_ day. And despite the long nap I'd taken this afternoon, I was exhausted and fell asleep fairly quickly.

When I opened my eyes again, I was standing at the archery range with the bow I'd gotten for my birthday and an arrow already knocked.

A gust of wind blew past me, so strong it managed to pull at my braid. When the wind died down, I heard footsteps approach me from behind. I gripped my bow and arrow, but struggled not to turn around. I didn't want to, lest I saw—

"Tori."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These past few weeks have been particularly difficult for me, and stressful. So I do apologize for taking such a long time to post this.
> 
> I dropped out of the Big Band in hopes to continue writing for this one, but then life got in the way. More than I was expecting or wanted it to.
> 
> Unfortunately, school is starting up again for me very soon, so that'll mean less frequent updates (not that my updates have been particularly frequent).
> 
> I just want you to know, I'm _going_ to finish this story. My OC has become far too important to me to just stop writing. I want to tell her story, so this will be finished one way or another. It might just take a little bit longer than anticipated.
> 
> I thank any and all of those who have stuck with me (to the end of the line). It means a lot that you're patient enough to wait those long weeks when I'm having a rough time or have hit a writer's block for another chapter. It really does and I can't express how grateful I am for that. So _thank you_ , so much.
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	10. You're Always Worried About Me

"No!" I gasped, bolting upright in bed. Breathing hard, my heart fluttering in my chest so fast it felt like I couldn't breathe, I looked around the darkened room. I somehow had managed not to wake anyone. Unlike last night. They'd asked me about what'd happened as soon as I returned from sitting on Half-Blood Hill with Peleus and watching the sunrise. I'd brushed it off as a particularly bad nightmare. I wasn't prepared to tell… _anyone_ about what my dreams had morphed into.

Having gathered my bearings, I lifted my shaking hand, just to make sure it was real. I fisted it and set it down again, closing my eyes and trying to get my breathing under control. I could feel the panic rising inside me. My whole body prickled it was almost deafening. And it certainly wasn't helping the panic attack.

Trying not to cry out or yelp, I struggled to my feet, getting tangled in the sheets momentarily. With severely shaking hands, I grabbed my bottle of pills and quickly darted into the bathroom. Without turning on the lights, I struggled to open the lid. With each passing second, the more panic rose in my chest, the more it felt like something was sitting on my ribcage. My breaths became quicker and quicker.

The lid finally burst open, spilling pills all over the floor. I dropped the bottle and lid before clumsily falling to my knees and grabbing two pills. I went over to one of the sinks, popping the pills into my mouth before turning on the tap and sticking my head under, slurping at the water to help me swallow the pills. I leaned heavily against the counter, sinking to the floor, hugging my legs to my chest and focusing on getting my breathing under control.

I could feel the tears just on the edge, but I wasn't going to sob again. I didn't think I'd be able to handle it mentally, emotionally, and physically. I had chores, I had activities to go to, I had to recover from this panic attack, I had to work up the nerve to walk through the front room of the Big House—I had a busy day ahead of me. I needed all the energy I could get. Crying would simply exhaust me.

When I finally felt I'd gotten my anxiety somewhat under control, I sluggishly crawled back over to the bottle and spilled pills. Slowly, I pushed the pills back into the bottle haphazardly, before popping the lid back on. Then I got to my feet, got dressed, grabbed my weapons, slipped on my shoes, and headed to the pine tree.

Peleus, to my surprise, was waiting. He huffed smoke as I approached and I couldn't help but smile.

"Morning, buddy," I greeted him as I got the crest, sitting down next to him. He shifted, so that his head and neck was right next to me. I scooted a little closer and leaned against him, the warmth helping to chase away the pins and needles.

As we waited for the sunrise that I could feel was about five minutes away, I started humming a little tune. Peleus rumbled beneath me contentedly. (This would become our new routine, though sometimes I'd sing instead of hum.)

Once the sun had fully risen above the horizon, I stood, pulling out my music player and headphones. Peleus grumbled, puffing more smoke. I laughed.

"You can pick the song tomorrow, okay?" I asked, putting my earpieces in and scrolling through the player to choose a song. Peleus huffed before shifting to be more around the tree again, but not before stretching his legs and wings. The wind from him batting them nearly knocking me over.

"You're such a drama queen." I joked as I made my way down the hill. Half-way down, a burst of flame hit the grass next to me. I jumped away before realizing where it'd came from and glared at our guard-dragon over my shoulder. Peleus wasn't looking at me, instead, he was looking at something in the sky, pointedly ignoring me. "Maybe I won't let you pick the song after all."

Peleus's head snapped back in my direction and he huffed, grumbling.

I smiled and shrugged before turning around and making my way toward the outside restrooms.

As I was taking out the bucket now full of soapy, hot water, and scrub-brush from the closet, I turned only to only crash into Cressida and Kayla. Most children of Apollo were morning people—occasionally, we'd get a child who _hated_ mornings—but they were looking a little _too_ bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning. It was…well it was rather unnerving, to be quite frank.

I pulled one of my earpieces from my ear, giving them a strange look.

"Good morning," I said, it coming out as more of a question than a greeting.

"We thought we'd help you this morning," Cressida said, keeping her smile.

"Now that Mr. D is no longer here, it's not like he can monitor whether or not you're getting help with your chores," Kayla added.

"Um, I appreciate it," I started, carefully making my way around them. "But no thanks." I quickly made my way toward the men's side of the restrooms, putting my earpiece back in. Cressida and Kayla simply followed me, walking with me on either side.

"Really, we want to help," Kayla continued.

"Mr. D isn't here, anymore, you don't _need_ to do the chores, let us help." Cressida said as they both reached for the bucket, but I pulled it away from both of them, giving them a glare.

"First of all, I don't _need_ your help, thanks." I told Kayla. I looked at Cressida. "Second of all, I'm not going to take any chances. Just because he isn't here, doesn't mean he's not monitoring me. He is still a god, you know."

They started to object but I stopped abruptly. They both went on a few steps ahead of me before stopping as well and turning to face me.

"Just let me do my chores," I said in a cold voice. "It's fine. If I need help, I'll ask. If I need a break, at least now I won't have to worry about getting called onto some mission or anything. Chiron will understand if I can't make it to an activity."

With that, trying not to look as annoyed as I felt, I pushed past them and went into the restrooms. I watched the door over my shoulder as I prepared the Johnny-mop for the toilets. Thankfully, they didn't follow me. I hoped that I'd gotten the message across, and that they'd spread it to our other siblings, because I was already tired of…whatever they were doing.

When I'd finished with the bathrooms and had put the cleaning items away, I headed back to the cabin to freshen up and start the laundry before breakfast. However, as I was exiting our bathroom, ready to gather the laundry, Austin was holding the basket walking around the room picking up the odd piece of clothing while the rest of my siblings were throwing their own clothes into the basket, like a game. As usual, none of them missed.

I froze at the door of the cabin and crossed my arms. "What are you guys doing?" I asked in a deadpan.

"We're just helping out," Austin said cheerily.

"And having fun!" Viola added throwing another ball of clothes. I had to hide my smile at her delight of making it into the basket yet again.

"I _can_ still do chores on my own, thank you," I said, turning my attention back to my other siblings. Jeez, first Kayla and Cressida and now _this_! Not to mention the other night when they kept asking if I needed help with basically everything. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth, trying not to snap at them. If I was going to confront them about what they were doing, it wasn't going to be in front of Viola.

"Seriously, we just want to help you out a little," Reed said shrugging.

"Why all of a sudden?" I nearly yelled.

"Mr. D's gone now, that's all." Lyra threw the last ball of clothes into the basket.

"No," I snapped, going up to Austin and yanking the basket of clothes out of his hands. "It's not _just_ that."

The cabin became silent, all playfulness gone. They all exchanged glances, except for Viola, who was looking a little confused at my outburst and the sudden change in atmosphere.

Will approached me slowly. "Chiron told me about what happened…with the room in the Big House. We were worried when you came back and just collapsed on the bed."

I swallowed hard, gripping the laundry basket so tight the plastic was digging into my fingers painfully. I took a deep breath before setting the basket down and kneeling so I was at Viola's eye-level.

"Why don't you go on ahead to breakfast," I suggested in a lighter tone.

Viola looked at me before looking around at the rest of our siblings, uncertainty clouding her eyes. She was still a child, but she knew _something_ was wrong. I didn't want her to see us fight if it came down to that. I didn't want her to see me angry, because I was afraid that she would hate me if she did. If the story about my breakdown in the bathroom didn't scare her off, me accidentally snapping and yelling at the rest of our siblings just might.

"Please?" I asked in an even softer voice. "I promise I'll tell you what we talked about, I just don't want you to be here right now."

Viola bit her lip, looking back at me. Slowly, she nodded. "Okay." She did something unexpected, then. She threw her arms around me in a quick hug before quickly bounding to the door and exiting the cabin, taking her cheerfulness with her.

I stood up, leaving the basket on the floor at my feet. " _And?_ " I prompted.

"We're worried about you," Will finally said.

"You've _always_ been worried about me," I responded, maybe a little harsher than I meant it.

"So, _what_?" Kayla asked. "You _don't_ want us to worry about you?"

I turned toward her. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"We're just trying to help you out," Cressida added.

" _Why_?" I questioned, looking at her with a hard stare. "Why _this?_ Why _now_?"

"Mr. D's gone—" Austin started.

" _So?_ "

"We were afraid he'd take it out on you if we helped with your chores," Will replied in his calming voice. "Now that he's no longer here, we thought we could help you out."

"With what, exactly? My chores? Or throwing offerings into the brazier? Cutting my food? Are you going to chew it for me, while you're at it?"

"That's not fair!" Lyra chimed in, frowning. "You've been in a lot of pain, lately—" She broke off abruptly with a small "oh", her eyes widening. The rest of our siblings looked away, some groaning, some sighing, like she wasn't supposed to say that.

I looked at them in disbelief.

"Is _that_ what this is about?" I demanded, trying to get them to meet my eyes. None of them did. Not even Will. I put my fingertips to my temples and closed my eyes for a moment. "I've had this for…how long now?" I questioned, still in a quiet voice, opening my eyes and pulling my hands away from my head. "At least two months. And you've just _now_ decided to start babying me?"

"We're not—" Reed tried to object, but I cut him off.

"Yes! You are!" I yelled, finally having enough of it. I just couldn't _believe_ they were treating me like this. What's more, I couldn't believe it'd taken them this long, that this was becoming a problem after having shown them I could still function. Some days were harder than others, yes. And some days I couldn't move or even remember what I'd done that day I was in so much pain, but I was still _functioning._ "Well, news flash! I've managed my chores, activities, and Mr. D's missions quite well since I got chronic pain. I _don't_ need your help! And if I do, then I'll ask. But until then, _knock it off!_ "

I leaned down to grab the basket of laundry before storming out of the cabin and to the laundry room.

The day was…tense—you could say tense—after that. I suppose I should've given them time to respond, but since I had immediately left after yelling at them, they weren't really talking to me anymore. I wasn't sure if it was because they were scared I was going to snap again, or if they were still mulling over my words. I did feel bad, though. I hadn't meant to get so angry at them. I just didn't like being treated like a child, either.

I was grown adult, who could take care of herself. It didn't matter that I had chronic pain anymore, I was adjusting, adapting, and still thriving. Obviously there was going to be days where I had flares, and days when it was put on the backburner and stayed on the backburner, and days where even pain meds wouldn't make the pain lessen any. That didn't mean I was incapable _all the time._ I had just wanted them to see that, to understand that.

It was after lunch and the silence had lasted. We were just about to head off to the climbing wall. They were all heading to the door, I was sitting on my bed, working myself up to the activity. Will opened the door and I figured it was now or never. There was going to be a meeting before dinner, so Chiron could work out the activities schedule with the head counselors and senior campers. After that, things would be busy with dinner and the campfire and then lights out.

"I'm sorry," I said loudly, keeping my eyes fixed on the floor. I heard my siblings pause at the door, eyes on me. After a moment, I looked up at them. "I didn't mean to yell at you. I was just frustrated and angry." I paused. "I mean, I'm still annoyed at you guys for thinking that I can't take care of myself, but I admit I could've expressed it in a better way. I just want you to remember, _only help if I ask_."

I waited for them to respond. I couldn't exactly read their expressions, but it could've been because of nerves. Finally, Will smiled softly. "Thank you. And we'll keep that in mind." The rest of our cabin nodded and murmured their agreement.

I took a deep breath, glad that seemed to go pretty well, and stood. Together, we headed to the climbing wall.

It was pretty routine, the activity. I waited my turn, shifting on my feet trying to push the static away, and when it came my turn I started to climb the wall. I was doing all right, my chronic pain not bothering, but about half-way up it suddenly flared. Not ready for it, I lost my grip of the wall and fell hard to the ground. It took me a moment to gather my bearings. I sat up as the pain from the fall cleared. Thankfully I was only half-way up, the worse was probably some bruising. The static lessoned some, but not all. Right now, I could push through it.

I felt hands grab at my arms, but I blindly pulled away.

"I'm fine," I snapped, standing up and going back up to the wall. Without hesitating, I grabbed onto the wall and started climbing again. Like last time, I made it half-way up before the prickles suddenly flared. I tried to hold onto the wall, prepared for this, but my fingers wouldn't cooperate. I lost my grip again and fell, but less painfully this time.

With a huff, I glared up at the wall, getting to my feet and going up to it yet again. I had to be holding it wrong or moving wrong or _something_ wrong. I couldn't have just _lost_ the ability to climb the wall!

I tried to think back, had I climbed the wall since I'd gotten this chronic pain? Surely, I would've known about this before now? It was one our regular, weekly, _scheduled_ activities! How had I missed this? I didn't understand!

Another flare, another fall.

I growled this time, as I stood, glaring up at the wall. Behind me, Cressida said timidly, "Victoria, maybe you should—"

"I've got this!" I snarled, not looking at her. I couldn't believe this was happening right now! Bigger revelation, I couldn't believe that I _hadn't_ noticed this before. Or maybe…I paused at right in front of the wall. Had I managed to avoid this activity before now?

No.

I'd been in too much pain up until now to be able to go to this activity. It was the second half of the day. By then, after lunch, I'd done most of my chores, a few of my activities along with that. I was usually exhausted and in too much pain to participate. This must have been the first week my pain hadn't interfered with this activity. I just couldn't believe that all of a sudden my pain was manageable enough _this_ week. The day that I yelled at them for being too helpful, no less.

Despite this, as I've mentioned this before, I was stubborn. I grabbed onto the handholds, found some footholds and hoisted myself up onto the wall again. As usual, half-way up, the pin-pricks flared to the point that I could no longer hang onto the wall and I fell. I did this maybe ten more times with louder and more frequent objections from my siblings the more and more I tried.

Finally, I got angry enough that I stormed away. I growled and shoved past the rest of my siblings, stomping all the way back to the cabin. I went straight to the bathroom, my usual, closing the door and locking it before taking a deep breath in and screaming my lungs out.

* * *

Unfortunately for me, my day didn't end there. I had a little time to gather myself, push down the frustration and anger at my chronic pain, the gods, the Fates, and take some pain meds that helped. A little. Then I had to attend the meeting with the other counselors and activity teachers.

Will tried to convince me that I didn't need to go, he'd apologize to Chiron for me and take notes on the meeting, but I insisted that I go. I didn't want to give my siblings more reason to baby me. I could tell he wasn't happy about that in the slightest, but I didn't care at this point. I was done trying to be sociable, and focusing on passable until lights out. I didn't have the energy to be a nice person anymore. No, that energy was going to be used to help me get through the front room without having a panic attack.

As Will and I walked to the Big House, just thinking about having to pass through made me cringe and my stomach churn. My hands started to shake and sweat. I had to rub my palms on my jeans to keep them from getting too sweaty. I hated that I had this reaction, it made me feel weak. But I hated that I felt weak more. It seemed like a reasonable reaction to something that reminded me of a particularly scarring part of my life. Still, some small part of me felt like a coward. I couldn't handle going into the strawberry fields, looking at myself in the mirror, and now going into a room.

When we got to the front door, Will went right inside, without hesitation. I had to stop at the threshold and take a deep breath, bracing myself. My heart was already pounding in my chest, my hands full-on shaking now. My breath was unsteady and ragged, which wasn't helping trying to take deep breaths. On top of that, my chronic pain wasn't at a level I could easily ignore. I'm sure forcing myself to go into a room that scared me half out of my wits really _wasn't_ helping.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to," Will said from inside. He seemed just about as done with my behavior as I was done with everyone at this camp.

I fisted my hands and locked my jaw. "I'm coming." With that, I stepped inside and quickly strode past Will and through the front room, keeping my eyes focused on the door to the rec room.

I froze, though, when I entered the rec room. The door had been slightly ajar, but not enough that allowed me to see in. Now that I had a full view of the room, it threw me back into a different memory, just as traumatizing as the other, only for a totally different reason.

Chiron was sitting on the opposite side of the room, at the head of the ping-pong table. Around the table were mostly head counselors of the cabins, along with some other senior campers. They all turned to look at me as I came in. Though I knew it was on instinct, I couldn't help but feel attacked. My alarm bells started going off, so not only did I want to pull my sword, but I was also disoriented from the memory it brought upon me.

It was the day after Beckendorf died. The head counselors had gathered to have a meeting, to re-strategize and re-plan since what we _had_ worked out hadn't gone quite according to plan.

For at least a year from that point, the camp had known we had a spy in our midst. That topic had come up and I'd been called in, because I was so close to Luke, people just _assumed_ I was the spy still. I had been for a time, but that wasn't really the point. No one trusted me because I was so close to Luke, but also because I had been with him for two years before returning to camp after Luke had allowed Kronos to possess his body.

At that point, I didn't deny that I'd been the spy, but I denied I knew who the new spy was. I'd promised Silena, I wasn't about to go back on that. I wasn't that kind of person. This, of course, didn't really help the situation. They'd all glared at me and I'd felt like a cornered animal. Not only that, but they hadn't believed me, despite putting on a whole charade of bringing me to the Big House and asking me.

It wasn't a great memory.

Will brushed my arm as he slipped past me. I blinked, his touch bringing me back to the present. He met my eyes and nodded once. I took another deep breath before following him to the side of the table and taking a seat with him on my right and Butch on my left. Butch was built like a brick wall, with a shaved head and a tattoo of a rainbow on his biceps. It was a tribute to his mother, Iris. He was also very good with the pegasi at camp.

I didn't feel comfortable sitting at the table just because I was so used to being under the microscope. People still didn't trust me, of course, but I'd always been on the other side. They could distinguish me as "them" because I was always standing opposite of them. Now I was smack-dab in the middle and it was making me bristle. What's worse was that it seemed no one was even paying attention to me, it was just my paranoia that made it seem like every whisper, every giggle, every snicker was about me—a malicious word exchanged with another counselor, a giggle or snicker over a joke or snide comment.

Mercifully, the meeting started and things went relatively smooth after that. Activities and times were distributed. For once, nothing went wrong. I was completely and utterly uncomfortable the whole time because people kept giving me glances, more so when Chiron mentioned me or my name, but that was minor. I was used to stares, glares, accusatory looks. I got them all the time. People found it easiest to blame me for some of the things that happened to them. Especially the Hephaestus cabin.

Anyway, once the meeting was adjourned, I was the first one out of there, promising myself never to enter the Big House again unless _absolutely_ necessary. As the weeks passed, things seem to settle. I fell into a routine where I could balance chores, classes, training, and my nightmares.

That was the only thing that didn't improve. They only got worse. I felt like I was getting less and less sleep. I was more afraid than ever to fall asleep now. It wasn't so much seeing Luke—equal parts agony and, I'd say, something close to joy mixed with relief—but it was the fact that I didn't want to _want_ it. I didn't want to one day wish that I could go to sleep and never wake up just to be with him, in that little pocket of forever. (Though, part of me knew, after that first night, I had already developed that wish.)

Viola was also preparing to go back out into the real world again. Chiron had convinced her mother to let her stay until around Christmas and the New Year to adjust to this new life as a demigod, train a little before going back out there. I was going to miss her. She'd really bonded with me after I'd sung to her, and I found I enjoyed having someone so young, and so cheerful in our cabin. It chased away the darkness and shadows that haunted all of us from the war.

Things were going all right. Of course, there were days where my chronic pain wouldn't let me do anything, and those days were hard, but for the most part I was managing and adapting. Sometimes my siblings would become overly helpful after a bad day but a gentle, firm reminder and they tentatively stepped back. I could tell they had a hard time with this, but I usually just glared at them until they literally backed off.

Then Chiron dropped a bomb.

We were meeting out on the porch of the Big House. It was the middle of winter, so outside was a bit chilled. A thin blanket of snow covered the ground, but I refused to go inside and sit in the front room. I _couldn't_. I felt bad, but was also glad Chiron understood and accommodated me. He sat in his wheelchair, with his thick, tweed jacket draped over his shoulders.

He'd called me to the Big House early morning and I knew it was some big news because of the fact he was in his wheelchair.

If I'm being honest, I was kind of glad he was when he told me why he'd called me over.

" _What?_ " I asked, my breath condensing in the cold morning air.

"Annabeth and Percy and visiting camp for winter break."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DON.
> 
> Well, anyway…I apologize of the wait. I know these past two chapters haven't been all that "exciting" but there is information I want to give, things I want to show involving Tori's chronic pain since it's not something that books represent a lot (which I hope—knock on wood, cross my fingers and toes—I am still representing well/correctly), and just…some wind-down before it winds-up again.
> 
> Because, oh ho ho, let me tell you, is it going to get real crazy, real fast. Annabeth and Percy are coming for winter break, ya'll know what that means regarding the HOO story- and timeline… ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
> 
> I mean, then it's going to wind-down again—well I say wind-down—because after Jason, Piper, and Leo go on their quest, all they can really do is wait until Leo and the Hephaestus cabin finishes building the _Argo II_ , so… ¯\\_( ツ )_/¯
> 
> Anyway, I want to thank all of you who are still with me. Again. Because it means a lot to me that you're willing to wait for my slow-ass to write these chapters. Thankfully, I just recently had a flash of inspiration for the coming chapters. I can't say I'll get them to you quick because of school, but know that instead of bemoaning that I have writer's block, I'll actually be writing when I have free time. Yay!
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	11. And Red Roses Too

You'd think two demigods coming back to camp would be the _least_ of my worries, cause me the _least_ anxiety there was to be had. Except, this was my life we were talking about. Nothing made sense to me in my own life. I was dreading and absolutely terrified of these two demigods returning to camp. Not just because these two demigods happened to be Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, but also because of what Mr. D had told me when we had gone over the rules of my probation.

See, the thing was, the past five years, Percy always seemed to find a way to worm his way into my life—besides the fact that I had been in a relationship with his arch nemesis. From that, though, we'd formed this really strange…friendship. I couldn't describe it to you, because I didn't even know how it worked, honestly. During my time with Luke, though Percy thought he was pure evil, having interacted with me, he knew that I wasn't "pure evil," and so always gave me the benefit of the doubt, supported me even though he shouldn't have.

Now, our relationship was even more complicated than ever, because Mr. D had stated specifically that I wasn't to breathe a single word, or even hint of my punishment. I wasn't allowed to talk about my missions, or all the chores I had to do around camp to Percy or Annabeth. Obviously, having sworn on the Styx already I wasn't going to tell a soul about my punishment, it struck me as odd that he'd mention it twice and say Percy and Annabeth's names, specifically. Something seemed awfully suspicious about that, but I was too busy (taking it all in—my punishment and my own emotional grief) to really analyze it critically.

Throughout the five years after Percy showed up, my relationship with both him and Annabeth was always rocky, as I have mentioned before. Percy trusted me, but sometimes he was unsure and it would show. Annabeth _didn't_ trust me, at all, but some sort of understanding had formed between us on that morning, when we were up in the throne room alone, and fighting the lord of the titans. She didn't seem to hate me anymore. I wasn't so sure about how much she trusted me, though. Even to this day.

Anyway, because of this relationship I had with them, that also meant they'd probably try to talk to me. And that, there, was the root of my anxiety about their coming back to camp for winter break. I was nervous I might accidentally say something that would hint to my punishment.

Having interacted with Percy and Annabeth enough, I knew that Percy was much more observant than he let on. And Annabeth, well, that was no question. She was the daughter of Athena, so she was already observant. I had a feeling she could also see through façades fairly well if she didn't let her emotions get in the way.

"I thought I should warn you," Chiron continued, breaking me from my spiraling thoughts. I could feel my heart beating erratically behind my ribcage, though, and my breaths were becoming ragged. My hands were starting to shake at my sides. "Mr. D made it quite clear in his letter to you before he left that everything about your, ah…"

"Just call it what it is, Chiron. My punishment." I muttered, fisting my hands and shoving them into the pockets of my jacket to make it seem like they were shaking because of the cold.

Chiron paused a moment. "Your…punishment is still intact."

I sighed heavily, then, creating a big billow of condensed breath. "Thanks for the warning, Chiron." I looked out across the camp, already strategizing how I'd avoid them.

"They're arriving on Tuesday and will be here for three weeks," Chiron added, as if reading my mind. My eyes snapped over to him through the corners. He met them evenly. "You can't avoid them forever."

"I can certainly try," I said optimistically, but also sarcastically, before bowing and heading down the porch steps. "I'll see you later, Chiron." I called over my shoulder. The bowing was just a habit I couldn't break. Once Mr. D had left, Chiron informed me kneeling for him was no longer necessary. I'd managed to work my way up to simply bowing, but I still couldn't quite break that habit, no matter how many times Chiron reminded me I didn't need to.

* * *

I peeked out the window from behind the light-orange curtains, scanning the green for any sign of the two demigods. They'd arrived this morning and now I felt I couldn't go outside my cabin without the possibility of running into them. Before I went anywhere, I always checked to make sure that they weren't near me. Of course, that didn't take away the potential of being spotted, but at least then I'd have some sense of reassurance they'd have less chance of seeing me.

"Don't you think you're being a bit paranoid?" someone behind me asked in a light, joking tone.

I snorted, letting the curtain fall back in front of the window before turning around to chew out the person who'd just made fun of me. Only, the words died in my throat and I veered back, crashing into the window when I saw who it was, letting out a yelp of shock, surprise, and pain.

A dream. I was dreaming. Percy and Annabeth hadn't arrived yet. It was the night before, I recalled. Still, that didn't stop this dream from continuing. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how aware I was that this was a dream, I could never wake myself up.

Worse still, it always felt _so real_. I could never tell I was dreaming until Luke showed up. Even then, some small part of me wished this was reality where Luke hadn't died, which made it even harder to distinguish from the real world, because there wasn't a day that I didn't wish he was still alive.

My heart automatically went into overdrive. My pulse raced through my veins. My breaths came out in shallow, ragged gasps.

Luke ignored all this and walked toward me. I pushed myself further and further into the window, thinking if I pressed hard enough maybe it'd break, I'd fall through and wake up. No such luck. I was so panicked, I hadn't realized there had been a small opening for me to dart to my right and away from him. But even then, after countless dreams of running away I knew he'd always catch me. It was inevitable. Whether it was because he was fast or because I unconsciously let him, I didn't know.

"Please, don't," I begged, tears forming in my eyes. It was something I said every time he tried approach me, touch me. I knew it wouldn't work, yet I still did it anyway.

Luke ignored me, like usual, and stopped just inches away. I could feel the heat coming off his body. I could hear his even, steady breathing. I could see his chest rise and fall with each breath.

I blinked and my tears rolled freely. I had to lean against the window, my knees giving out.

"You're not real," I sobbed quietly, shaking my head. "You're dead. You _died._ "

I felt his hand caress my cheek, wiping away my tears with his thumb. "Shh, shh," he cooed.

I jolted and reached up, promptly pulling his hand away from my face but I couldn't get myself to let go. I gripped his hand with both of mine as the tears continued and the hole in my chest began to expand. I was afraid if I let go that I'd lose him forever, his warmth, his love, my memory of him. So afraid….

Luke's free arm came around my shoulders and he pulled me into his chest, before rubbing soothing circles on my upper back. I gripped his hand even tighter, weeping, too weak to pull away.

And I _hated_ myself for that.

When my sobs died down, Luke stopped rubbing my back, pulling away slightly. I felt his hand under my chin, gently tilting my head up. My red-rimmed, watery brown eyes met his crystal clear blue ones. Then he was leaning down, toward me, his eyes sliding closed. I moved one of my hands from gripping his to gripping the front of his shirt, to brace myself.

My own eyes slid closed as he came closer and I found myself pushing up onto my tip-toes. I felt the warmth of his lips against mine, but before it could get anywhere, I jolted awake. My heart was a dull thud behind my ribcage. Aching pain from the hole in my chest and the prickles from my chronic pain invaded my mind for a solid five minutes afterward. I could barely think.

My dreams of him had started ending like that recently, the irreverent almost-kiss. Part of me wanted the dreams to cease altogether. Another part of me could feel that if I let it get any farther than brushing lips, I'd never want to wake up. The last part of me felt ashamed that I knew this and let it get that far in the first place.

When the ache had receded and I had gotten all my demons back into their cage, I forced myself to get out of bed and take some ibuprofen. Then it was getting dressed and heading up to the crest of Half-Blood Hill to sit with Peleus and watch the sunrise.

I was surprised to find the snow had melted overnight, revealing much greener grass than should be possible after snow. The air was warmer, _much_ warmer, but with a nip, like autumn with winter right on the cusp. I didn't mind all that much, but I had to wonder about the sudden, drastic change in weather.

Peleus was waiting when I got to the top of the hill.

As I watched the sunrise and sang a soft tune, I felt my nerves calm down a little. Behind me was the dead of winter and in front me a spring oasis. Both were beautiful in their own right. Peleus lent me some of his warmth which helped relax me more and also calm my chronic pain a little. And, I kind of hated to admit it, but the sunrise had a calming effect for me, too. It had to be partly due to the fact that I was a child of the sun god, but because I and my father weren't on the best of terms, I had mixed feelings about this.

When the sun had fully risen, I sighed and stood up.

"All right, buddy, I'm off," I said, stretching and pulling out my headphones and music player. Behind me Peleus grumbled before making a sound like a whine. I paused and looked back at him, eyebrows furrowed. "You all right?" Peleus merely blinked at me before curling up around the pine tree again. I stared at him for a moment longer, but he'd turned his head away. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but seeing as I didn't exactly speak dragon, it wasn't like I could understand if he answered me.

With another sigh I trudged down the hill, putting my headphones in and keeping a lookout for either of the two demigods who'd be arriving today. I didn't think they were arriving this early in the morning, but you could never be too careful.

The first-half of the day went by pretty smoothly. I caught glimpses of them around camp, but they seemed too busy catching up with other friends, thankfully, to actively be looking for me…or to come up to me if they had spotted me, which I took great pains to make sure didn't happen. Lunch was a little nerve-wracking, but, again, they were busy with their closer friends and paid me no mind.

After lunch, instead of doing the climbing wall, I taught elementary swordsmanship—which basically meant all the kids at camp (apparently Chiron thought I had a stunning personality), and the newer demigods who'd arrived as well. Wally was there and so was Ivan (who'd settled in well and was also here on winter break). I also taught an intermediate and advanced swordsmanship class.

Oh, and then there was my cabin. Will had managed to change the whole cabin's schedule around so that they could still be with me. I was a little peeved because I'm pretty sure that he'd done that on purpose, afraid I'd accidentally snap at a kid or perhaps collapse during the lesson because I was a fragile piece of glass. Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do about it. I didn't have the energy to go to Chiron and argue it out with him and Will.

It was a subtle way of babying me, but it wasn't outright yet, so I'd tolerate it. Besides, they could use the practice anyway.

I started them out with three demonstrations of easy, general moves with a sword, then I had them pair up so they could practice with each other. As they sparred, I walked around the pairs, watching them carefully to make sure they were using the right technique. It was like weightlifting, you wanted to lift in the correct way or you could seriously injure yourself. In this case, yourself and others. If they were doing a move wrong, I stopped them and demonstrated for them again. If they still couldn't get it, I positioned their arms and legs into the right spots.

I'd set my cabin, excluding Viola, off with a little more advanced moves, seeing as they'd had sword training before.

I was doing another round of walk-throughs when a familiar voice said, "Working hard or hardly working?" from behind me. I spun around to see Percy leaning casually in the entrance to the arena, hands in his pockets, a half-smirk on his face. "Victoria." he finished.

Around me, one by one, my younger and newer students stopped sparring and turned to look at the famous Percy Jackson. He was a legend at this camp to them. Since he'd been away at school, all they heard about were the stories: His quest to find the stolen lightning bolt and helm of darkness. When he snuck out of camp to find Luke and ended up finding the Golden Fleece. When he snuck out again to follow a group of demigods and Hunters of Artemis because Annabeth was in trouble. The time when he'd bravely followed his now girlfriend, Annabeth, into the Labyrinth. And finally, when he'd led a group of demigods, nymphs, and satyrs into war against a Titan to defend Olympus.

They started whispering excitedly to one another, but Percy kept his gaze on me.

"I'll have you know I'm the instructor of this class," I said putting my hands on my hips and raising an eyebrow. "Perseus." The whispers died down, presumably so they could hear what we were saying.

Percy blinked, pushing away from the arena entrance wall, like he was slightly surprised at this news, before doing a sweep of who all was here. Nodding, looking maybe impressed, he slowly started to make his way toward me, hands still in his pockets.

"You're a hard one to find," he commented, switching topics. "Been busy?" It was his turn to raise an eyebrow. My heart shot into my throat, a painful stab hitting me in the chest. I almost panicked, thinking he had somehow figured out some part of my punishment, but he continued and I immediately relaxed. "Teaching?"

"Well, you weren't here, so I was the second best choice for this class," I answered easily, my heart settling. I could feel its after-effects though. My breathing was slightly ragged, my hands trembling. "After all, we were taught by one of the best in the last three hundred years."

Percy stopped short, looking shocked and cautious for a moment from my bringing up Luke, but I gave him a small half-smile and nod to tell him it was okay. He relaxed and smiled back, finally stepping into the arena.

"You know, I barely even recognized you with the braid," he said.

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing—you look so grown up, now. A for serious adult." I joked back.

He snorted and rolled his eyes before pulling his hands out of his pockets. I didn't fail to notice he'd pulled out his pen-sword as well. He had a magic item much like my bow-ring, only his was a pen that when uncapped turned into a sword. Right now, he casually tapped it against his leg, but I knew for him, that was almost a warning. It always surprised me how nonchalant he could be when threatening someone. Son of the sea god indeed.

"What do you say," Percy said, giving his pen a twirl. "For old time's sake?"

"I…don't know," I said reluctantly. "I'm in the middle of a lesson—"

"Are you two going to fight?" Wally asked, sounding much more excited for my taste. The other kids started whispering excitedly again. Some shouted, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

I turned to look at them, trying my best to be gentle but firm. "No, guys, we should get back to the lesson."

"She's such a spoil-sport, isn't she?" Percy asked. I turned to glare at him. He'd moved next to Wally. "Is she this boring during lessons, too?"

"I am not!" I exclaimed before Wally could answer. Around me, there were some noncommittal disagreement noises. I looked around feeling offended and attacked. "I just want you to learn this correctly, it's important!"

Percy looked back down at Wally. "Definitely boring."

My hand twitched in frustration and annoyance before I reached for my sword and unsheathed it. I was irritated that Percy was goading me, but I was more irritated that it _worked_. I knew it was all in jest, and that was probably the worst part about it. If I'm being honest, some part of me had definitely wanted to spar with Percy again. He was the only one at camp who posed a real challenge and it was always exciting sparring with him. The other part argued it was a bad idea because I had limitations that _I_ didn't even know about because of my chronic pain. (And a tiny part of me wondered if I'd ever just sit down with Percy and Annabeth and talk about what happened that night in the throne room of Olympus.)

Percy straightened up as my siblings quickly ushered the other campers back a ways, knowing how dangerous I could get with a weapon in my hand. The son of Poseidon looked at me with wide eyes, but that lasted a split second. He smiled in excitement and satisfaction before uncapping his pen, it elongating into a sword.

"You know, I was wrong," I commented, twirling my sword in my hand. "You aren't an adult after all, you're still an annoying little prick."

Percy's mouth dropped at that. "I take real offense to that," he exclaimed dramatically.

I smirked, gripping the hilt of my sword tighter. "What are you going to do about it?"

Percy grinned, the expression on his face honestly a little terrifying, before coming at me. I braced myself for his attack, and when our swords met, I swear, the very earth beneath my feet shook. I was surprised at the strength and power behind Percy's blow, but as I pulled away preparing my own attack, I adjusted my mindset quickly.

The fight was exciting and challenging. It had my adrenaline going and my ADHD in overdrive. There just wasn't anyone at this camp that compared to Percy's swordsmanship and it was a great feeling to feel myself really working at winning the battle. As I pushed harder, Percy pushed right back.

It was all going great, I was holding my own quite well (certainly better than last time), until I tried a specific attack move. It was like a firework had burst inside me. The last thought I could remember was, _Oh no_. After that, it was all pain. I do vaguely remember my sword falling from my hand and collapsing to my knees, but it was all behind a veil of pin-pricks.

It wasn't as bad as when this had happened at Dan's performance, but it was getting there. The static was so loud, so deafening, I couldn't perceive anything else around me. I didn't know where I was, who was there, if I was sitting, standing, or lying. Mercifully, it didn't last as long either, but the prickles only died down enough that I was half-aware.

I could tell I was sitting, but was definitely ready to collapse. I could tell someone was gripping my shoulder, probably kneeling next to me. There were voices, probably calling my name, but I couldn't be too sure.

I blinked hard, forcing breath in and out of my lungs, and my vision cleared somewhat. The pain lessoned a little more, enough that I could form somewhat coherent thoughts.

The first thing I noticed was Percy's sea-green eyes, swirling with worry and concern. His hand was on my shoulder. He was kneeling, as I suspected. His sword was gone, probably back in pen-form in his pocket.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "Did I hurt you?"

I shook my head. "No, you didn't. I'm fine." I muttered before trying to stand up. Percy removed his hand from my shoulder and quickly stood, offering his hand this time. I took it a little begrudgingly. The prickles flared up again, but I gritted my teeth and forced myself to stand anyway. Below the layers of pain, I could feel embarrassment welling up inside me. I knew it was a possibility I'd find a move that caused me pain, but during a duel with Percy Jackson of all times was awful timing.

Around me, my siblings had formed a loose circle and behind them were my other students. My embarrassment grew. I just wanted to get out of here as fast as possible.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Percy asked, not letting go of my hand. Then I realized I was gripping it, almost leaning into him, and hastily pulled away.

I summoned my sword back into my hand and sheathed it, meeting Percy's wide eyes. "I'm sure." I turned back to the others. "Class dismissed." I started to head out of the arena, but Percy, as his usual, stubborn self, followed me, having gotten over his shock.

"Wait!" he exclaimed, falling into step beside me. Behind me, my siblings were crowding. With my growing pain, my annoyance grew, too. "You can't just leave it at that. You _must_ be hurt somewhere. You were out of it for a solid two minutes."

"Do you see any blood?" I asked in a slightly snappy voice.

"Well…no, but—"

"And I'm walking all right?"

"Well, yes, but—"

"Then I'm fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I have—" I broke off, having almost said chores. "I have to prepare for my next activity. It was good to see you again, Percy." With that I quickened my pace. Thankfully, Percy didn't follow this time. I made a b-line to the Apollo cabin, not even bothering to close the door. I grabbed my bottle of pills—I was low, I'd have to go get more, soon—and went to the bathroom. I threw three into my mouth with a shaking hand and chased it with water from the tap.

I stood in front of the sink for a long moment, everything catching up to me. I felt the tears well up in my eyes and I let a few fall, covering my mouth to make sure no sobs escaped or that'd be the end of that.

After the few, I swallowed hard and blinked back the rest, wiping away the ones I'd let escape.

I went straight to my bunk after exiting the bathroom. All my siblings had arrived back by this time. Viola came up to me half-way there, though, asking something. I wasn't really sure what, nor could I remember because I had been in too much pain.

"Not now," I managed, pushing past her. She followed, still speaking. My annoyance grew. I just wanted to sleep. I was in pain, I was on the verge of a panic attack, and I just _couldn't_ deal with _anyone_ right now.

Viola persisted and I paused at my bed, trying to keep it together, but the dam burst. I spun on her and yelled, "I said not now!"

Her reaction and the realization I had made a mistake were immediate. Tears welled in her brown eyes, her lower lip quivered, and she stepped away, looking… _scared_. Of me. My heart dropped. I took a step toward her, just barely breathing her name, but she run off, letting out a sob.

"No, Viola…" I said weakly, starting toward her again, but someone blocked my way. I looked over to my right to see Will. "I have to…I have to apologize," I told him breathlessly, feebly fighting against the restraining arm he was holding out in front of me.

"No, Victoria," Will said calmly, in his soothing voice. "You need to rest."

I looked back at Viola who was quietly crying as the rest of my siblings tried to comfort her. My heart broke and I felt my own tears well up in my eyes.

"No, I-I have to…I need to apologize." I tried to push past Will, but I was also still in pain. "Please, Will."

Will stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Viola and the others. He gripped my shoulder to the point of pain to keep me focusing on him. "I'll explain everything to her, okay. You can apologize when after you've rested. It's just initial shock, once she's calmed down, she'll understand."

"You can't know that," I objected, some tears slipping out.

"Doubting my abilities? I'm offended," he joked half-heartedly. But it was enough.

"You promise?" I asked, sagging.

Will nodded. "You have my word." He let go of my shoulders and I turned toward my bunk again, crawling onto it, curling up and squeezing my eyes shut. More tears escaped, but I cried silently. Eventually, despite the pain, my body was so exhausted, I fell into a fitful sleep, where my pain ebbed and flowed like the tide.

When I woke, as usual, the pain hadn't disappeared. A part of me always hoped. Another part knew, it was never going to happen. Thankfully, it had become background noise again. I could manage.

Then I remembered what I'd done in razor-sharp clarity. I bolted upright and looked around the room. My siblings were here, milling around.

"What time is it? Where's Viola?" I asked to no one in particular.

"It's almost dinnertime," Cressida answered.

"And Viola's right here," Will said. Viola was standing next to him and he was holding her hand. Her eyes were full of caution, making my heart squeeze painfully. I had never meant to scare her so much. I hadn't even meant to snap at her.

I slipped off the bed and kneeled down so that I was as non-threatening as possible. I held both hands out.

"Will you come here, sweetie?" I asked softly. She hesitated, looking up at Will, who nodded and squeezed her hand encouragingly. I held my breath, my heart beating painfully in my chest as Viola approached. She took my hands and I held them carefully.

"Will explained things to me," she said. "I'm sorry you're in so much pain."

A single, hysterical laugh escaped me. "You don't have to be sorry for anything." I told her firmly. "I am _so sorry_ I snapped at you. I can't promise I won't do it again, but I will try my _absolute_ hardest to make sure it doesn't happen. I'll do anything to make it up to you, I promise."

Viola seemed to perk up slightly at this. "Anything?" she asked.

I nodded. "Anything." I repeated.

"Swear on the Styx?"

"I swear on the Styx."

Viola grinned and the pain in my heart lessoned to bearable. "Thank you for apologizing. And I want you to sing at the campfire."

I blinked, my mind blanking. "What?"

Viola's smile grew and she giggled. "I want you to sing. At the campfire. You don't have to join us in the sing-along, but I want you sing for everyone. I want everyone at this camp to hear your voice."

All I could do was stare in shock at this child before me. Of all the things she could've requested, that had never entered my mind.

One of my siblings snickered and my eyes flickered up to Kayla, but I was still so stunned, I couldn't even glare at her. The rest of my siblings were stifling their laughter, amusement alight in their eyes.

"You did…say…any-anything," Kayla stuttered through snickers.

"And you…you s-swore on the S-Styx!" Lyra exclaimed before bursting out into laughter. The rest of my siblings joined her. I looked back at Viola, still too shocked to be angry at the rest of them.

"And is this…" I swallowed hard. "Is this every night, or…?"

"If anyone requests you to sing after this, then I want you to sing," Viola said matter-of-factly. She squeezed my hands, her voice softening. "You're singing makes me happy. I think it could make others happy too, if you let it."

I took that in, taking a deep breath. I _had_ sworn. On the Styx no less, a binding contract for the rest of my life. Wonderful.

"Starting tonight?" I questioned in a whisper.

"Starting tonight," Viola confirmed with a smile and single nod. "I request that you sing tonight at the campfire."

I took a deep breath. "Well, I did promise." I mumbled, accepting my fate. This was a thing now, there was no getting out of it.

"Great!" Will exclaimed suddenly, making me jump. I glowered up at him. He merely smiled. "With that settled, why don't we head to dinner?" In the distance, the conch horn sounded.

I stood as the rest of my siblings, still getting over their laughter, started to fall into line. Viola kept hold of one my hands and we walked to the dining pavilion side-by-side. She was happy as could be, with a skip in her step. And, I supposed, that made it all worthwhile. As much as I didn't like what she's asked of me, I was glad that she seemed to no longer be afraid of me. I was glad she'd forgiven me for snapping at her.

After dinner began, Will went up to the main table and started speaking with Chiron. I looked at them suspiciously, wondering what Will wanted to talk to our activities director about. At one point, Chiron's eyes flickered over to me before quickly flickering back to Will. I narrowed my eyes, then, becoming even more suspicious of what Will was up to.

Viola poked me in the side and I looked over at her.

"My friend, Lacey, told me she wanted to hear you sing, but since Drew doesn't really like you, she had prohibited it." Viola said, keeping her eyes on her plate. Was she embarrassed? "I thought that maybe if you were given the chance to sing to everyone, people who aren't able to hear you sing would get the chance to."

"That was very sweet of you, kiddo," I said with a smile reaching over to ruffle her hair. She squealed and batted at my hand. I laughed and pulled my hand away as she fixed her hair. She finally looked up at me with those big, sparkling brown eyes before sticking her tongue out at me. Though it was childish, I stuck my tongue out at her.

"You're not so boring after all!" Viola remarked with a grin.

I snorted. "Thanks." I deadpanned. Viola giggled and turned back to her plate. I turned back to mine just as Will returned to our table.

"What were you talking about over there?" I asked.

Will grinned. "You coming up on stage to sing a song not traditionally meant for sing-alongs."

"Oh."

Will laughed as I tensed up and scowled.

Dinner passed by _way_ too quickly for my taste and suddenly people were excitedly heading to the amphitheater for the sing-along. I stood slowly, planning on taking my sweet time, but Viola grabbed my hand and started pulling me with surprising strength toward the amphitheater, though we made a quick stop at our cabin so I could grab my guitar. It was partly a safety blanket and partly because I had a song in mind.

I fell into step right behind her because I was afraid of accidentally tripping her up. When we entered, she finally let go of my hand and headed straight for the stage with the rest of our siblings. I took my usual spot off to the side, carefully setting my guitar sitting next to me but also leaning on the bench behind me.

The bonfire flickered with excitement, gaining heat, height, and changing colors as more campers entered. And the more and more campers entered, the more nervous I got. I felt my stomach tighten and I was painfully aware of each and every time my heart beat against my chest, like someone hammering a nail right through my sternum but from the inside.

Once the sing-along got started and the campers started joining in and having a good time, I relaxed a little, getting lost in the buzz of however many voices as one. It was always comforting to see all of us, for as much differences as we had, come together and just have a good time, sing cheesy Greek mythology songs, and roast marshmallows.

Through the flickering flames and vibrant blueish-white color I caught a glimpse of Percy and Annabeth sitting together, holding hands, swaying and happily singing along with everyone.

My heart wrenched painfully, the hollow feeling pulsing, sending out a residual-sort of feeling throughout my body. I found it suddenly hard to breathe. All the people in the theater suddenly became suffocating. My demons roared and shook the cage I'd banished them to. My dreams of Luke coming to me, alive, surfaced front and center.

I blinked and quickly averted my gaze, fisting my trembling hands, and trying to get my breathing under control.

When I'd finally managed, I sat there numbly staring at the ground, the shadows flickering at my feet from the fire. Everything seemed leeched of color, the music didn't sound as cheerful anymore.

"Why do you look sad?" someone said from beside me. I started and looked up to meet one big, brown calf-eye.

"Tyson," I said in shock. I suppose him being here shouldn't have been as much of a surprise as it was, but I was still surprised nonetheless. See, Tyson was Percy's half-brother, and he loved Percy very much. He was also a cyclops. We'd formed somewhat of a friendship after I'd sung for and with him while we were doing dishes with the harpies after a big feast because it was our punishment (Annabeth and Percy had been there, too). Percy, apparently, said good things about me, so Tyson trusted me as Percy did. Even after everything that'd transpired. I hadn't seen Tyson since the war.

"Why do you look sad?" he asked again, cocking his head slightly to one side.

I blinked and forced myself not to look over at Percy and Annabeth. "I…" I looked away, trying to think of an alternate explanation. "It's nothing. I just…got lost in thought." I lied.

Thankfully, Tyson seemed to take that answer. He nodded and focused his attention back on the stage, swaying to the music and humming along to the song. A little later, during the last song for the night (well for the sing-along, anyway) Tyson spoke again.

"You still do not sing with them, then?" he questioned, sounding disappointed.

I looked up at the stage too as the last note ended and hung in the air only to be promptly drowned out by the applause.

"About that…" I muttered as Will walked downstage, almost to the very edge and waited for silence.

"So, we're going to be doing something a little different to end the night," he announced before turning and looking over at me. "Victoria, if you will please join us on stage?"

I heard Tyson gasp in excitement beside me. I looked up at him and gave him a shy smile as Viola bounded down the steps and toward me, grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet, just barely giving me time to grab my guitar.

Tyson clapped happily, grinning. "Break your…um, break your leg? Yes, break your leg!" he shouted as Viola pulled me toward the stage.

The amusement at Tyson's version of encouragement lasted about a millisecond as I stopped at the edge of the steps. Viola ran right up them, still holding my hand, but my arm was long enough that I was able to stretch it until she got onto the stage. I pulled my hand away, my apprehension growing. My grip on the neck of my guitar tightened. I was suddenly reminded of the Dan's performance, that weird dog-headed, glowing red creature.

_Seirína._

Siren.

I was known as Siren—not _a_ siren, just _Siren_ —in Tartarus. There had to be a reason for that. Though it struck me as a bit strange because I hadn't thought many monsters had heard me sing. Even if they had, I couldn't have left such an impression, they'd given me that nickname, surely. Had someone, or something _thing_ , with more influence and power over the other monsters given me that nickname? If so, _why_? In mythology, sirens were creatures that sung so beautifully their music tricked your mind into hallucinating your ideal world to lure you into a death trap. That didn't exactly say great things about me….

"Come on," Viola whispered, breaking me from my thoughts. She beckoned me forward with her hand.

Swallowing hard, gripping my guitar so tight the strings were digging into my palm painfully, keeping my eyes on her, I slowly made my way up the steps. By this point, the amphitheater had gone completely and utterly silent, so every time the steps creaked and groaned under my weight, I cringed.

I made my way over to Will, who was waiting for me.

"Do you have a plan?" he asked through his smile in a quiet voice so only the two of us would be able to hear. I nodded, swallowing hard. He visibly relaxed, his smile becoming more genuine before he turned to the audience and bowed back upstage.

I took a shaky breath before turning to face the other campers, who I could see most of thanks to the fire, which didn't help my nerves. Speaking of the fire, it was more chaotic than usual. Sometimes it would grow large, but with a burst, it would shrink, or vice versa. The colors flickered from yellow to red, sometimes mixing to make orange. I wasn't sure what the colors meant, but if the fire couldn't decide how to represent the campers' emotions that wasn't necessarily a _good_ sign.

For a moment, I froze, staring out at all campers, most of whom hated me. I felt like I was being scrutinized, like I didn't belong. My heart was beating so fast in my chest, I thought I might faint. The light of the fire become too bright and my vision swam, my head becoming light.

Behind me, someone cleared their throat. I blinked, my vision snapping back into place and I looked over my shoulder. Viola mimed strumming a guitar and I remembered my guitar still in my hand. I quickly turned back to the front, throwing the strap over my shoulder, adjusting slightly, getting it into a comfortable position.

Another moment of apprehension, hoping that my body wouldn't decide to panic and cause my chronic pain to flare up in the middle of the song. If I lost this part of my life, too, I honestly don't know if I could come back from that.

Without introduction or any other words, not even what I'd be singing, I lifted my left hand to the neck of the guitar, placed my fingers, and started playing the first few chords that my mom had adapted from ukulele. Of course, it'd never sound the same on a guitar, but I'd never learned how to play the ukulele.

When Dan and I were growing up, our mom played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" by Israel "Iz" Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole a lot. Despite her love of the '60s, that was another absolute favorite. Another one of the songs I frequently requested her to sing before I went to sleep or after I woke from a nightmare. The melody, rhythm, and medley of the two songs was something absolutely perfect. And, of course, my mother's own spin on it was gorgeous, too.

The longer I played, the more relaxed I became. The world disappeared until it was just me, my guitar, and the settled fire flickering in front of me. When the time came to actually sing, the lyrics flowed from me smoothly and naturally. I heard my mother's singing in my head, but put my own personal spin on the song this time, letting my emotions flow through the words. It made the song sound more melancholy than the original or my mom's, but that was okay, it was my version after all.

When the last note of my guitar faded out I blinked and my world expanded. The campers in front of me came back into view. The amphitheater was mostly silent, like when I'd started the song. At first, I didn't quite understand, because the fire had shrunken and was now very blue. I looked around at the stands to see people wiping their faces and/or looking at the ground, looking away. If I listened past the crackling the fire, I could hear sniffling.

I quickly turned to look at my siblings to ask what I should do, but they too were wiping their eyes and sniffling. I frowned and turned back to face front. Even the Hephaestus and Aphrodite cabins were wiping their eyes, but they were doing a better job at hiding it.

I felt like I needed to say something, to break the ice, ease the tension, but I was unsure of what I should say.

Before I even had to start racking my brain for something, Tyson started clapping loudly, and cheering. The fire in front of me burst with a shock of orange. I hunched my shoulders, blushing profusely and smiled at him. As the other campers and my siblings started clapping, some cheering—no one as loud as Tyson—the fire grew higher, brighter, and hotter. Percy's half-brother stopped clapping momentarily and reached for something before throwing it at me. It flew at me so fast, I couldn't comprehend what it was, but I instinctively reached out and closed my fist around it.

It was thin and cold metal. Upon further inspection, I realized it was a closed rose made from Celestial bronze. How he'd put that together in such a short amount of time was astonishing to me, but the sentiment behind it was probably the sweetest thing I'd ever felt. I smiled widely at Tyson, blowing him a quick kiss. Nothing too dramatic, nothing over the top. His lips spread into a big, toothy grin.

My siblings came downstage, gathering around me, some still clapping, other smiling and waving. Will throwing his arms over my shoulders before pulling me in for a side-hug.

"See, that wasn't so bad," he murmured in my ear, over the cheer of the crowd.

I rolled my eyes and snorted. "Yeah, well, rest assured, unless someone outright asks me to sing, I'm not doing this again."

"You know, I could just ask you to sing every night," my half-brother said easily. I turned to glare at him, but he was purposely ignoring me, sweeping his eyes across the crowd with a stunning smile, his free hand waving.

"You wouldn't," I growled.

"You underestimate me."

Before I could reply, Chiron got the crowd to settle down. "All right, I think we can all agree that was a wonderful performance. But it's now time for lights out!" With a wave of his hand, the fire went out. The campers started to exit and make their way back to the cabins.

I broke away from my siblings. "I'll walk back at my own pace," I told them. I needed time to take everything in. To breathe a little.

"You sure?" Kayla asked. I nodded, biting my tongue on a snide comment. I could tell she wasn't trying to baby me this time. With some hesitation, they packed up their instruments and followed the hoard. I stood on the stage, watching everyone exit, breathing in the cool night air. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking it all in. I admit, it felt good to be on stage, to perform in front of people. I was glad, and surprised, they even cheered. Even if it was just out curtesy.

"It blooms," Tyson's voice came from my right, startling me. My hand twitched to my sword, but I managed to repress the urge. The rose I still held helped.

I turned toward him, shocked he was still here.

"What?" I asked, exiting the stage and walking over to him. He stood as I came over.

"I will walk you to your cabin?" he asked. "Percy says it is a nice thing to do."

I smiled at his sweetness. "Sure." We started toward the exit and then I remembered what he said. "What did you mean by 'it blooms'?"

Tyson gestured to the flower. "The rose. I made it so it will bloom like a garden rose—midsping to fall."

I lifted the rose in my hand to get a better look. This metal rose could bloom? I looked back up at Tyson, wondering how he had managed to make something like that. Surely it had to do something with _some_ kind of magic, even a tiny amount. I wanted to ask, but before I could, Tyson spoke.

We had reached the green of the cabins and he pointed toward the Athena cabin.

"See, Percy walks Annabeth back to her cabin," he said, like he wanted to make sure I understood exactly why he'd waited. I watched as they said goodnight in front of the porch, then Percy leaned in to kiss Annabeth. I quickly averted my gaze, letting out a wheezy, pained breath.

"That makes you said," Tyson said as we continued onto the Apollo cabin. "Why?"

"I—" I broke off gripping the rose, not sure what to say. Would he think my love, my relationship with Luke was bad? That it meant I was a bad person? The time before and during the war, he still trusted me because Percy had told him so. Did that mean he wouldn't judge me if I told him? We got to the porch and I walked up the three steps before turning to face Tyson. "Luke." I finally managed.

Tyson's big brown eye softened and he nodded like he understood. "You loved him very much."

"I did," I whispered.

Tyson nodded again. "I am sorry that made you sad."

I took in a shaky breath. "It's okay, it's only been a few months…" I felt tears brim my eyes. "Thank you, again, for this beautiful rose, Tyson."

Tyson smiled. "Thank you for singing!"

"Good night."

"Good night!" With that, he turned and started toward Cabin 3. I watched him until he'd gotten to the door before turning and going to the door of my cabin. I gripped the door knob, briefly looking over my shoulder in time to see Tyson disappear behind the door.

I turned back to the door, twisted the knob. "I still do love him. Very much. Too much." I whispered before blinking the tears away and heading inside.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey.
> 
> I'm back.
> 
> And you didn't even have to wait as long as last time! :D
> 
> Well, anyway. Long, _long_ chapter for ya'll. I hope it's, you know, good. And not too sad, either. I mean that last part gets a bit sad, but, um—well, anyway, this was the little break for Tori before everything gets kind of crazy. If you recall what Annabeth told Piper happened on the night Percy disappeared…and, well, you've got a good guess where the next chapter is going.
> 
> Eleven chapters in and we're finally getting to the part of the story I actually had planned! Whoo! I can't say that I'll post sooner because I'm going to be taking the GRE in like less than two weeks so I'll mostly be studying for that. And, of course class, not to mention an exam this coming Tuesday. Needless to say, I'll be busy. I'll probs write it when I have time and need down-time, but posting might take a bit longer.
> 
> Title taken from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" by IZ.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	12. It's All An Act

The next morning went as it usually did. Another dream of Luke, going up to sit with Festus and singing a song for him, watching the sunrise, and then heading to clean the outside restrooms. Though, Festus was still acting a bit strange, a bit down. I wasn't sure why, but he seemed moodier. Singing seemed to help his mood a bit, but once I stopped singing, he become grumpy again. I seriously wanted to ask what was wrong, but, again, I couldn't speak dragon.

I promised him I'd come visit him during the day, maybe sing another song, before putting my earpieces in, turning up the volume, and heading to the bathrooms.

I was just putting the stuff away when I realized something was wrong. Campers were running around with worried looks on their faces, huddled in small groups, murmuring, exchanging concerned glances. Closing the door to the closet, I pulled my headphones out, wrapping them up and shoving them into my pocket, scanning the surrounding area for one of my siblings who'd be more inclined to tell me what was going on as opposed to getting a glare for daring to ask.

Before I could find one of them, Will's voice caught my attention, but when I turned to look in that direction, it was Annabeth's stormy grey eyes that I caught. When I say stormy, I don't mean she was deep in thought or troubled, she was _angry_. Her grey eyes swirled like a hurricane, and that hurricane was coming straight toward me.

I instantly went on alert, my ADHD kicking into high gear, adrenaline flooding my system. I reached for my sword, taking a few steps back and grasping the hilt, but restraining myself from unsheathing afraid that might just antagonize Annabeth more.

Will was trying, and failing, to stop Annabeth, but she was on the war path. As they came into ear-shot, I could hear more clearly what Will was saying.

"—you're angry and worried, and I understand that, but placing blame isn't going to help the situation." He was using his calming voice, but it was slightly strained as Annabeth got closer and closer to me. My grip tightened on the hilt of my sword, but I gritted my teeth and waited. I had no context and I didn't want her to think I was attacking her.

Finally having enough of Will, Annabeth shoved him away like a nat. He stumbled and fell into the rest of my siblings who'd been following them. The rest of the Athena cabin had gathered behind Annabeth and other campers were starting to filter in, surrounding me and Annabeth.

_Trapped._

My heart started to pound irregularly in my chest and I fought to turn my anxiety into hyper-awareness.

"Where is he?" Annabeth demanded, stopping a few feet in front of me, hands balled into fists at her side.

I shook my head slowly. "I don't understand," I told her.

In retrospect, I wouldn't have said what I said had I known Annabeth was going to go off. Not only that, but that seemed to trigger everyone else. They all started speaking at once, their voices blending into a roar that threatened to overstimulate my heightened senses. I took a shaky breath in and let out, focusing in on the daughter of Athena in front of me.

She was also speaking, but she seemed less controlled than usual—which wasn't like her at all, so I had to really wonder what had happened. Unfortunately, with everyone talking all at once the best I could make out was something had happened to Percy last night. And Annabeth was blaming me.

At first, I was angry. Annabeth had never trusted me. I thought, maybe, after everything that'd happened after the war, she'd at least stopped _not_ distrusting me. I, at least, thought we'd had come to some kind of mutual understanding. By the looks of it, I'd been completely and totally wrong. Still, even if I hadn't assumed she no longer distrusted me, this was crossing the line. I'd lost the one I loved and now I was a god's PA. I had all too real dreams about being with Luke again only to wake up to a world where he was dead. I had tried to prove time and time again that I was on their side, make up for what I'd done. I took my punishment without complaint.

And here she was, blaming me for something happening to her boyfriend. A person I held in high regard, who I respected and even considered a friend.

I was about to yell at her, at everyone, to shut up before setting the record straight—to stop blaming me every time something bad happened, but then I saw it. I saw the desperate and wild look in Annabeth's eyes. I saw how scared she was. It wasn't characteristic of the Athena children, to show how much they were falling apart on the inside, but something had happened to her boyfriend, someone she loved dearly and deeply. I knew how that felt. And I found I couldn't be angry at her anymore.

Instead, I pretended to be angry. In the middle of all the chatter, in the middle of whatever Annabeth was angrily shouting at me, I stepped forward and shoved her back as hard as I could.

The campers went silent. Annabeth stumbled back, breaking off, and looked at me with wide eyes. There was a beat of utter silence before Annabeth's eyes narrowed and the hurricane hit land. She came out me lightning fast. Thankfully, I knew enough about her to know that her preferred fighting style when it came to hand-to-hand was Judo. I couldn't let her make two points of contact on my body or I'd be done for.

I played defense, dancing out of range of her hands and legs, blocking her strikes, thrusts and occasional kicks when she managed to get too close. I did a lot of tucking and rolling when this happened, so she'd have more trouble grabbing me.

When this became apparent, she switched tactics. Setting her jaw, she unsheathed her blade. Luke's old blade. The same blade Luke had used to—

I'm not quite sure what happened…pictures, visions, scenes flashed before my eyes: When Luke told me about his promise to Annabeth on his dagger. In the throne room when Annabeth had figured out what _Hero's soul cursed blade shall reap_ meant and tried to get me to understand. Later, when she'd been severely hurt, asking me to help Luke remember his promise, reminding me of Luke's promise to _me_. Finally, Luke stabbing his Achilles's Heel, hearing his cry of agony over again.

I felt my heart stutter, my breath coming out broken. I stumbled a few steps, nearly tripping over my own feet.

"Look out!"

I tried to focus again on the fight, but I was still half-stuck in flashbacks. Through my hazy vision, I saw Annabeth swinging her dagger at me. She was too close and too fast, there was no way I could avoid not getting hurt, but I minimized the damage by instinctively turning away. Her blade struck my arm, easily slicing through skin. I let out a gasp of pain as I completed my spin, out of slicing range.

The pain of the wound and sight of blood pulled me back to the present. I prepared myself for Annabeth's next attack. I went on defense again, but knew I had to find an opening and disarm her or I'd be in serious trouble. The wound was shallow, but now that she had a weapon, the fight was going to end with me disarming her or her maiming me.

The longer I fought her, dodging and blocking her swings, I realized how her technique had become sloppier, for I'd trained with my own dagger with her, telling me how serious a matter this was turning out to be. If Annabeth didn't have any idea what happened to Percy, something bigger had to be going on.

Finally, an opportunity came. She swung at me again and I blocked, our wrists connecting. This time, before she could pull away, I opened my hand and grabbed her arm, pulling her toward me while simultaneously stepping toward her and wrapping my other hand around the back of her neck. Not expecting this, she stumbled forward and as she did so, I brought my knee up toward her nose.

I stopped right before my knee could make contact though, stepping away while deftly slipping her dagger out of her hand. Annabeth stood like that for a long moment, hunched over, breathing heavily. Her eyes were wide, brimmed with tears. Her arm slowly lowered before both her hands went up to cover her face and she fell to her knees.

Realizing what was happening I quickly trilled a whistle—me and my siblings had created a code of whistles, almost like a new language but not quite as complex. I went up to Annabeth and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her to her feet as my siblings surrounded me, like bodyguards, fending off the rest of the campers, and especially Annabeth's siblings.

I swiftly led her back to the Apollo cabin, my siblings on my heels, keeping everyone back. When we got to the porch, I headed straight on inside while they stopped at the railing to make sure they had the whole porch covered.

Once inside, I led her over to my bed and sat her down before going to get her a glass of water and a box of tissues. I set her dagger and the tissues beside her on the bed when I came back, the glass of water on the floor. Then I went back into the bathroom to let her have a moment by herself. She needed to get all this emotion off her chest, but being the daughter of Athena, she probably felt she had to be held to a higher standard, which also meant not letting people see you at your weakest moment. She wasn't allowed to cry, she always had to have a plan.

I needed a moment myself, anyway. I was shaking from the ordeal and my chronic pain had decided to make a sudden resurgence. Not enough I couldn't think, but enough that my first instinct was to lie down and sleep.

I'd already taken three ibuprofen, now I was waiting for to kick in. Not only that, but also having those sudden flashbacks was starting to get to me. Having to relive those moments, in vivid color and sound…thinking about it too much was making my heart flutter. My throat constricted.

Grasping the counter and sinking to the floor, I put my head between my knees and tried not to cry as a panic attack hit me.

When I came to, I was exhausted. I could feel the tears in my eyes, but I couldn't break down. Not now. Annabeth was still out there as far as I knew. This was normal for me, she was the one who needed comforting right now.

Knowing I was going to severely regret this later, I struggled to my feet and exited the bathroom. Thankfully, at least, the ibuprofen had seemed to kick in. How long it was going to last was a different matter that I would address when the time came.

There was a pile of used tissues on the floor next to my bed. Annabeth had put her dagger back in her sheath and now held the glass of water between both her hands, which was half-full.

She looked up as I came into view. I was about to ask her if she wanted to talk about it, but suddenly her eyes widened. I froze, going into high alert again.

"You're hurt!" she exclaimed, standing. "I…I cut you—I'm sorry! I didn't…" She blinked rapidly and looked away, as if going over the whole fight in her mind. "…didn't even realize! Here"—she set the glass down on the floor and started toward our bathroom—"you sit down, I'll get some ambrosia—"

"No!" I exclaimed, stepping in front of her, blocking her path. Annabeth stopped abruptly, and looked at me with wide eyes. "I mean…no," I said softer, stepping back. "I-I'll just let it heal naturally. It's not a terrible wound. It just looks bad."

Annabeth didn't look very convinced. "Are you sure? It'd heal much quicker with just a tiny amount of—"

"I'm sure," I interrupted. "I'm _really_ sure."

She gave me a strange look but didn't press, though knowing her she was going to figure out why I was objecting one way or another. "Is there anything I can get you, then? To help it heal?"

"Uh, no, it's fine. I can get them. It should only take a sec. Please, sit down, drink some more water." I gestured back to my bed.

Annabeth's eyes glazed over slightly, as if remembering _why_ she was here. Nodding, she shuffled back to where she'd been sitting, picking up the glass on her way. I went back into the bathroom, having totally forgotten I'd been wounded, and gathered what I needed. I went back out and sat down next to her, laying out my supplies next to me.

I took the wet cloth I'd brought out and began to clean my wound. "Tell me," I requested softly, pausing momentarily to look up at Annabeth. She looked over at me before quickly averting her gaze. Her grip on the glass tightened.

"Percy…" she started in a weak whisper. If my eyes weren't fooling me, it looked like her lips had gone completely white. I waited. "Percy's…missing."

I stopped cleaning up my wound and looked up at her, blinking. "What?" I asked, stunned.

Annabeth's eyes flickered up to meet mine for a fleeting second before going back to the glass of water she was clutching. "He's gone missing," she whispered in a watery voice. She took a deep breath and gulped the rest of the water before standing up and pacing as she spoke, her voice louder, but more panicked-sounding. "I don't know what's happened! Or what's going on! He kissed me goodnight last night after the campfire and then I went to see him this morning and he was just…He wouldn't answer, so I went inside the cabin and he was _gone_. Tyson was still asleep, so I woke him and asked him if he'd heard Percy leave or if Percy told him something, _anything_ , but Tyson was just as confused and worried as I was.

"Percy's bed had _clearly_ been slept in, so he'd gotten back to his cabin that night, but somewhere between then and this morning, something…happened." Her voice grew small and she stopped pacing. She was facing away from me, head low, arms hanging at her side, but her hand was gripping the glass so hard I was afraid it might break.

I waited, held my breath, my alarm bells going off. The tension built up and rolled off her in waves. I was afraid she might explode. Maybe not at me, now that she had rationalized I didn't have anything to do with it, after all, but I would react the same either way: defense.

She spun around, suddenly, making me jump, and gestured toward my arm. "You should really finish cleaning that up and put those Band-Aids on." I nodded before giving my wound one last wipe and started carefully putting on the butterfly Band-Aids. Annabeth sat back down next to me.

"I'm sorry for blaming you," she murmured, keeping her gaze fixed on the floor. Her eyebrows were mashed together, lips pursed.

"Thank you for apologizing," I mumbled back, grabbing the roll of bandages and carefully rolling them around my wound before grabbing the tape, ripping a piece off and sticking it to the bandage to keep it in place.

Annabeth's eyes had moved to me. "Why don't you want any nectar? Or ambrosia? That's easily heal-able."

I avoided her eyes as I gathered up the supplies. "Personal preference." I said, darting back into the bathroom to put the things away. When I came back out, Annabeth was looking blankly back at the ground. I gingerly sat back down next to her, not sure what to do next.

"Does it get any easier?" she asked in a whisper. She was holding the glass with both hands now, one of her thumbs stroking the surface. Her eyes were far away.

"I…think I missed something," I said truthfully. Her hand stopped stroking the glass and she looked over at me.

"Luke," she said.

I felt my heart beat in what felt like slow motion, the pulse echoing through me before the hole in my chest began to slowly expand. My demons roared and clawed at their cage and it was all I could do to keep them in there.

I had to look away and take a deep, shaking breath. I fisted my shaking hands, looking down at the ring Luke had gifted me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—" I heard Annabeth start to say, but I waved her off.

"It's fine," I gasped softly before taking another deep breath. "I just…wasn't prepared. I need a minute." Annabeth let me have my moment, gathering myself, forcing the demons to silence themselves, trying not to let the hole consume me, struggling to keep my heart from racing, keeping the panic attack at bay.

I let out a breath and relaxed my hands. I didn't feel any better emotionally or mentally, but I'd gotten the physical reaction under control for the time being.

"You just…" Annabeth started. "You seemed to together." She was staring at the floor again, eyebrows furrowed, but not as fiercely. She was frowning in confusion. "Percy—" She choked and had to take a deep breath. "H-he told me about your fight. He said you seemed…okay. You seemed fine."

"It's all an act," I replied. "I'm falling apart on the inside." I felt the tears well up in my eyes and my throat close, but I swallowed hard and gritted my teeth, forcing away my tears. Annabeth was silent. She stayed silent until it filled the room, pressed on my chest, made it stuffy. I felt like I was suffocating.

"It'll be okay," I finally said to break the silence, feeling instant relief once I'd had.

"How can you be so sure?" Annabeth asked harshly.

"He's not dead, you'd know," I told her, looking over at her. She met my gaze. "He's brave. And strong. And so are you. You'll both survive and find each other again."

Annabeth looked away. If I wasn't mistaken she had tears in her eyes. Her hands tightened around the cup. "He is." Her voice was thick. "I wish I felt brave and strong right now."

"It'll take time," I told her. "But you'll get there. Just…don't be afraid to _feel_ your emotions. Find an outlet so they don't drive you mad."

Annabeth quickly reached up to wipe her eyes with one of her hands before looking back at me. "Can I—?" She broke off, biting her lip. "Will you—?" She broke off again, looking unsure.

Despite her unfinished questions, I knew what she was asking and smiled softly. "Of course."

The daughter of Athena relaxed and managed her own smile. "Thank you."

Just then, the door to the cabin burst open. Annabeth and I stood, my hand going for my sword on instinct. Two of my siblings ran into the infirmary before coming out a second later with a stretcher. I followed them out, my heart dropping.

"What's wrong? What happened?" I asked Lyra as they ran toward the forest.

"Jake," she said. "Jake Mason? He's been injured. It's _bad_."

"How?" Annabeth asked. I jumped, not realizing she'd followed.

"They tried to catch the dragon again and it didn't go well." Lyra explained, grimacing. My siblings broke out into a sprint and I did my best to keep up, despite how my body protested.

Not just a dragon—a bronze dragon. A long time ago it'd been crafted by a Hephaestus camper to defend the camp before Thalia's tree did, but something went wrong and it ran off into the woods, never to be seen again. During capture the flag one night, Percy and Silena had found the head being dragged toward a myrmeke's (giant, acid-spitting ants that liked shiny things) den and followed the drag-trail all the way to the body. They'd reattached the head and somehow gotten it to follow them to and destroy the myrmeke's home, for Beckendorf had been captured by them and almost turned into food.

Unfortunately, Beckendorf had activated "attack mode" and it tried to kill everything in sight, so he'd deactivated it again. Sometime later, after fixing it up as best he could, the dragon was reactivated.

Some of the wiring wasn't _quite_ right, though, because the dragon was a little off kilter, but it liked Beckendorf and Beckendorf knew how to keep it pretty mellow. Problem was, after he'd died, it'd gone completely berserk (again)—par with the curse of the Hephaestus cabin, so they say—running off into the woods and disappearing. How you lose a bronze dragon, I'm not sure, but the woods here at camp held a lot of secrets. They were part of our magical world, after all.

So I've been told, the dragon will, once in a while, make a sudden reappearance, torch a cabin or two, terrorize the campers, and then disappear back into the woods again. The Hephaestus kids had been setting traps and trying to capture it for months now, but since their curse also meant they couldn't build _anything_ without _something_ going wrong, they hadn't managed to capture it. I only ever saw the aftermath, the burned cabins, the hurt demigods, because I'd been doing something for Mr. D when the dragon showed up.

It was pretty deep into the forest before we found Jake, his siblings, and rest of my siblings. It was a horrific sight. Trees were singed or cut down, split up the middle. The ground was torched and burned, littered with large holes like craters. Most of the Hephaestus cabin looked all right, some were worse than others, but they only had minor cuts and bruises from what I could tell. Kayla and Austin were treating two children who'd each broken an arm.

Jake was the worst, lying there completely unconscious. Will kneeled next to him, intently doing a scan, determining just what all had been injured or broken. Reed was standing next to Will, watching, waiting. Jake's siblings were gathered around, but it looked like Will had already yelled the, "Give him some air!" thing so they weren't crowding, which is the only reason I could see.

All of Jake's limbs were at odd angles, and judging by Will's concerned expression, those weren't the only things broken.

Will looked up at Cressida and Lyra. "Help me lift him _carefully._ Just so I can get my hands underneath him," he said.

Cressida and Lyra nodded, setting the stretcher aside, kneeling down and carefully lifting his back just enough so Will could slip his hands underneath. After concentrating for a long few minutes, Will removed his hands and nodded at my half-sisters. They set Jake back down.

"None of his vertebrae are injured or broken, so that means we can move him," Will said. "Carefully, still, but we don't have to worry about severing his spinal chord. We'll get him back to our infirmary and reset his bones. Give him as much nectar and ambrosia as possible, but he'll probably need a full-body cast."

I took a step forward. "Is there anything I can—" I started to ask, but one of the Hephaestus kids stepped in front of me, shoving me back so hard I almost fell over.

"Get away from him!" Nyssa shouted (probably the one who'd shoved me), glaring at me angrily, like the rest of her siblings as soon as I'd made my presence known. She was dressed in her usual tank-top and cargo pants, hair tied back with a red bandana.

I immediately stepped back further, my heart skipping a beat before _racing_ in my chest. My hands twitched as I fought to keep them from grabbing and unsheathing my sword.

Nyssa gestured behind her, toward Jake. "This is _your_ fault! If you'd never gone to Kronos's ship, Beckendorf might still be alive, we might not be cursed, and Jake might not be lying there half- _dead_! Besides which, you can't even _heal_ with magic! So just leave!"

"Victoria," Will said. Nyssa stood aside, turning her gaze on Will, but Will held mine. Such solemn eyes for a fourteen-year-old. "Please leave, there's nothing for you to do here."

My hands fisted at my sides and I took a small step forward. "I can _help_ —"

Nyssa opened her mouth to respond, but Will beat her to the punch, interrupting me, "Don't make the situation worse."

I knew that he had a point. Jake was severely injured and hanging on by a thread—I could tell that much from just _standing_ near him. I also knew that Will meant with the other Hephaestus children and their hatred toward me, not that I might end up killing Jake.

Still…even though I know he was doing what was best for me, Jake, and the Hephaestus cabin, it felt like I'd just been stabbed right through the chest with Annabeth's dagger. I'd never heard him use such a cold voice before. Usually, he used his gentle-but-firm voice. Sometimes, with me, it was his anger-laced-with-concern voice, but never, had I ever heard him use an icy one. Regardless of who he was talking to.

I managed to nod before turning and walking out of their sightline. Annabeth didn't follow this time. When I looked back and couldn't see any of them, I booked it. I briefly glanced at the shining Apollo cabin in the morning sun, but my eyes slid over to Cabin 13, my real destination. I knew I had things to do today, but after a jab like that from Nyssa, and then, what felt like, from my own sibling, I was ready to fall apart.

Nyssa's words conjured up memories of a long night, sitting in the Atlantic, softly begging Beckendorf to stay alive until we got back to camp. A long night of calling to a pegasus I was only half-sure would come. A long night of slowly developing hypothermia. A long night of wishing, hoping, praying Beckendorf would survive. Of me cursing that fact that I couldn't heal with a hymn and some magic like the rest of my siblings. The struggle to get Beckendorf's unconscious and impaled body onto said pegasus. Collapsing upon arrival at camp only to wake up and hear that Beckendorf had died.

At the time, a lot of people had blamed me for his death. Even Percy. The Hephaestus cabin had never stopped.

Neither had I.

A fresh wave of guilt and sorrow ripped through me and I was just able to stumble into the Hades's cabin before collapsing against the door, slamming it shut, and sinking to the floor as I sobbed.

The days when I didn't have someone there to be my anchor were hard. There was always a fear that I wouldn't be able to reel it back in, or come back from it, but I somehow managed to break the surface of the water once again, when it did happen. I wasn't quite sure what brought me back, but something did. I was able to gain control of myself and my emotions again and put up the façade that I was okay.

It's what I had to do today. It was still only the morning. I still had chores to do, classes to teach—Chiron had also tasked me with elementary and advanced archery. I wasn't sure why I didn't take all three, like with swordsmanship, or why I didn't take intermediate and advanced, but I didn't really complain. It still gave me plenty of practice with both, and still left me time to do my chores. I hoped, at the next meeting, however, to make more time to keep up on my dagger training. Now that Annabeth was back, I was eager to train with someone who was arguably the best with a dagger.

When I'd managed to gain control again, I checked my watch through heavy, puffy eyes. I still had thirty minutes until my next class. That was good, it gave me a little more time to get it together and make sure it would stay together. Not only that, but it also gave me time to prepare, take some more ibuprofen for the static was slowly ramping up, like someone turning the dial on a television, and hope that I had enough energy to make it through the rest of today. (Which I probably wouldn't, in all honesty, but would push myself anyway to block out my guilt and my grief that fresh as the moment I'd found out Beckendorf hadn't made it.)

As I sat there, in the dim cabin, leaning against the door, what part of my mind wasn't engulfed in static instead strayed to Percy's disappearance. It couldn't have been a coincidence that Jake was so badly injured the day that Percy disappeared. Not only that, but Peleus had been acting strange since yesterday, as if he'd had some inkling that something bad was going to happen. I wasn't saying that he had prophetic powers, but Peleus reminded me of animals of the mortal world—they knew when certain things were going to happen because of some sixth sense. It made sense that Peleus would be like that too, except instead of natural disasters, he sensed supernatural disasters.

Thinking about it like that made Percy's disappearance more sinister. Something big had just happened in the world of gods and demigods; Percy's disappearance seemed to be the tipping point.

And it was only just beginning.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Let me be dramatic, dammit!~~
> 
> So anyway…don't know how I feel about this chapter. I think it's all right. See also: Me remembering that before the Other Trio arrived at camp Jake had been hurt, and that Festus was a thing, and trying/flailing to get it into the story without it making it seem like I suddenly remembered/flailing.
> 
> Also, I want to address this before someone comments with something like: "That was just too OOC for Annabeth." or "I don't think Annabeth would ever act that way." etc.
> 
> Here's my response: She's not a robot. She still feels things, and strongly, too. Just because we don't see her cry, doesn't mean she doesn't cry. Just because we don't see her lose it, doesn't mean she doesn't lose it. If you read her POV in MOA, you'll notice that she feels like she has to put on a mask when interacting with people because that's all she's ever known. She's the daughter of Athena and expected to act as such, but that doesn't mean she's not allowed to break down and/or cry.
> 
> Percy means _A WHOLE FUCKING LOT_ to her. Before he was her boyfriend, he was her best friend. As someone said on Tumblr, he _chose_ to be her friend, and that was something that she hadn't quite experienced after everything had transpired with Thalia turning into a pine tree and losing touch with Luke. So that meant _a lot_ to her.
> 
> They'd gone through _so_ much together, her and Percy, up to this point, and then to _lose_ him? And not know why, or where he'd gone, or if he was even _okay_? I feel what I've written here is an accurate depiction of how she might react to something like that happening—let's not forget she just came out of a war, too.
> 
> So, yeah, that's what I have to say about that. No need to comment to me about how OOC you thought it was.
> 
> /rant
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	13. A Monster Calls

As it turns out, I didn't actually have to worry about my next class, though I still needed to worry about a certain level of functioning. Annabeth had gathered the whole camp and organized search parties—we were going to scour the camp-grounds, look over the whole place with a fine-tooth comb.

I felt obligated to join my siblings for Annabeth's sake. She was doing what she could to keep it together, and I had told her I would support her and be there for her if needed. This was one of those times. I was going to regret it later for sure, but that was a problem for a later date.

Our cabin, minus two—Reed and Viola—who stayed behind to monitor Jake, was sent off to search the southwest part of the camp. The Athena cabin and Hephaestus cabin would be going into the woods. Meanwhile, Chiron would be trying to contact Percy through any way we knew—phone, his mom, IM, paper plane carried by wind nymphs, etc.

Thankfully, this time spend searching also took my mind off my own thoughts, of Nyssa yelling at me, of Will telling me to leave. As much as I told myself he was only doing what he thought was best, I still couldn't help feel a little hurt by his harsh tone. Anyway, it got me moving, kept my mind off that morning, and also prevented Will from coming and talking to me about it, because no doubt he would. He seemed to be very in tune to my moods ever since the war.

At the end of the day, despite our best efforts, we'd come up empty. As had Chiron, much to everyone's disappoint and worry. I could feel the concern grow as the hours passed, rolling into the camp like a thick fog, settling in for as long as Percy was gone. It was uncomfortable and suffocating.

By the time we'd finished our search, I was ready to take a few ibuprofen and sleep. My chronic pain had slowly raised to an almost unbearable level. I was afraid that I'd spent so much energy today, I wouldn't have any for tomorrow. But that was a concern for future me. Present me was ready to collapse.

Unfortunately, as was my luck lately, when I entered the cabin, Nyssa just so happened to be there, too, talking to Reed. Viola stood next to him. Best guess: she was checking up on Jake.

Cressida would tell me later that after they'd brought him back to our infirmary, they'd reset all his bones and then worked to make a full-body cast, having given as much ambrosia and nectar as they dared. Even the magic healing hadn't done the job fully, he'd been injured that bad.

I tried to ignore Nyssa, but she glanced at me as I passed.

"What is _she_ doing here?" Nyssa snapped, cutting Reed off in the middle of his sentence. I froze and took a deep breath to restrain myself from lashing out, before turning to face her.

"I _live_ here," I responded in a sour tone, meeting her glare. Her hands were balled into fists at her side.

"I don't want you anywhere _near_ Jake," she growled. "You're a _plague_."

I crossed my arms and replied with, "Well, our father is known for his plagues." to hide the stab of hurt her words had caused me. It wasn't enough that I felt that way already, having someone else _confirm_ it wasn't exactly inspiring.

Nyssa tensed, like she was ready to spring at me. I tensed myself, my hands twitching, wanting to grab my sword.

"You _infect_ those around you. How do I know you won't kill Jake just by being around him?"

"Oh, please!" I exclaimed, shifting on my feet and uncrossing my arms. "That's a load of bull—"

Will cleared his throat loudly and violently, cutting me off. My eyes flickered over to him and he gestured, subtly with his head, toward Viola who was still standing next to Reed, looking back and forth between me and Nyssa.

Viola shrugged. "My mom cusses all the time."

"—shit," I finished, turning back to Nyssa. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Will facepalm, but I ignored him. " _Look_ , the infirmary is only _connected_ to our cabin. It's a _separate_ wing. Even if your assumption that I kill people by just being around them was true, Jake is perfectly safe."

We even had a door to the infirmary. A separate door on the outside. It was a separate building after all. Why Cressida and Lyra hadn't used it when they were getting the stretcher for Jake was beyond me—perhaps they were so worried, they'd forgotten—but there _was_ one. It wasn't like the Hephaestus cabin even had to see me.

"I'm not prepared to take that risk," Nyssa said through gritted teeth.

"I don't know what to tell you, then, because you can't just kick me out of my own cabin."

Nyssa opened her mouth to say something else, but Will intervened. "We'll move Jake to the infirmary in the Big House as soon as he's able. In fact, he may even be able to go back to your cabin. We just want to make sure any more complications don't pop up, and that his bones are mending all right. It'll only be for another day or two."

Nyssa's glare shifted back and forth from me to Will. Her hands furling and unfurling into fists. She didn't look happy, but it also looked like she was going to agree to what Will was proposing.

"Fine," she finally muttered. "I'll be back to check up on him." With one last glare toward me, she exited our cabin.

My knees buckled as soon as the door closed, my vision momentarily going black. When I came to, Reed was supporting me (I was still on my knees), Will was kneeling next to me. Viola was by his side. They were all looking at me with worried looks.

"…'m fine," I mumbled, trying to pull away from Reed, but failing. The pin-pricks were starting to reach the unbearable-can-barely-think level.

"Are you sure?" The disbelief in Reed's voice made me feel offended, but I was too tired to argue.

"Ibuprofen," I managed. "Sleep."

"You help her into bed, I'll get the meds." Will instructed, standing. Reed nodded and started to stand, taking my hand and putting his free arm around my waist. I gritted my teeth as needle-points moved like waves of chills throughout my body over and over again. I don't even remember getting to my bed or taking the meds. At some point, unconsciousness mercifully took me.

Someone was shaking me awake. It took a while for my brain to push away the prickles that crowded my brain every time I became conscious enough. Then it needed to reboot. Then I finally realized that someone was softly calling my name.

I gasped and sat up, still only half-awake, automatically reaching for my sword. It wasn't at my waist.

"What?" I asked, looking around and trying to gather my bearings. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Kayla said in a gentle voice. "Nothing's wrong. Tyson wants to talk to you."

"Tyson?" I asked, my brain still booting up.

"Yeah, he's waiting out on the porch. I think it's important. Can you make it over there, or are you gonna need help?"

I threw my legs off the edge of my bed and waved her off. "I'll be fine." Sleep and meds had helped my chronic pain that if I focused on other things, I could still function well enough.

I stood and looked for my sword. It was leaning against my chest at the end of my bed. I scooped it up as I passed, strapping it to my waist before exiting the cabin. As Kayla had said, Tyson was waiting out on the porch. He'd been rocking back and forth on his feet, but looked up when I came out.

"Tyson," I greeted as he came up to me. His big, brown calf-eye looked red and slightly swollen, like he'd been crying. "What…do you need something?"

"I came to say goodbye." Tyson said.

"Goodbye?" I asked.

Tyson nodded. "I am going to look for Percy," he told me solemnly, "since we did not find him here." Just then, something big and black darted past my peripherals. My head snapped toward the green, my alarms going off. Mrs. O'Leary was bounding around, chasing some of the younger campers, with some older campers monitoring them. I took a deep breath, steadying myself, and forced my gaze back to Tyson.

Mrs. O'Leary was a hellhound. Biggest I'd ever seen. She used to belong to Daedalus—yes, _the_ Daedalus—but when he let Nico take his soul (he'd been cheating death for centuries) Percy had kind of become Mrs. O'Leary's new owner. I knew, though, since she was hellhound, Nico took care of her a lot, too.

I still had an aversion to hellhounds, so I tried to steer clear of all of them as much as possible.

"I hope you find him," I said sincerely.

Tyson tried for a smile. "Thank you. I will miss you. Please, do not stop singing."

"I'll miss you, too, Tyson." I purposefully ignored his other comment, hoping he wouldn't notice.

"Can I give you a hug?"

I blinked, surprised at his request. "Uh…sure, just…just be gentle, okay?" I held my breath as Tyson leaned down and gave me a quick hug before pulling back. There were tears in his eye. "Drop by every now and again during your search. Even cyclopes need to take breaks." I told him, feeling the need to add something.

Tyson nodded once. "I will." Without another word, he turned and made his way to the green, whistling for Mrs. O'Leary. She bounded up to him, waiting patiently with her tongue out. Tyson let the kids say goodbye before he said something to her. Then he hopped onto her back. Mrs. O'Leary barked before bounding straight toward a cabin. I was worried at first, but she and Tyson both vanished as soon as they'd touched the shadow of the cabin.

It made sense that a hellhound could shadow-travel, I supposed.

I looked out across the green. It looked like the campers were going back to the usual routines now that the searching, at camp at least, was over. I wondered if that meant I had to go back to my usual schedule, too.

I did. I was glad I'd slept—through lunch, though, much to my cabin's annoyance. This was highlighted by the fact that I refused to eat until dinner. I wasn't hungry. So, it was onto elementary swordsmanship for me, my cabin, and the newer campers.

Unfortunately, the events of the day resurfaced as I was walking around and looking for bad technique or people who need help. Will's cold voice cut through me like ice. I tried not to let it get to me as class wore on.

Based on the looks he was giving me all throughout the class, I wasn't succeeding.

"All right, class dismissed!" I announced before turning to my bag to get out my water bottle and two pain meds. I still had advanced archery to teach and the stables to clean, and then the advanced swordsmanship class, and I'd basically drained my energy supply focusing on teaching and ignoring my pain. (I would be going to bed early tonight.)

As everyone was leaving, Will finally approached me. I waited for him to speak as I popped the cap off my meds bottle.

"So…you're angry," he said.

I figured it was no use in lying or being sarcastic, so I said, "Yes."

"At me? Or…?"

"What do you think?" I asked throwing the pills into my mouth and chasing it down with water from my water bottle.

"Look, I was just doing what I thought was best for all of us. I've…never seen—or… _felt_ —something so serious. Jake was…was _just barely_ hanging on." Will explained. "I'm sorry if it came across as cold or like I was taking Nyssa's side. I didn't mean for it to."

"I know," I muttered, throwing everything into my bag and forcefully sipping it up.

Will paused, seemingly trying to process what I'd just said. "Then why are you mad at me?" he questioned, incredulously, following me as I exited the area.

"Well, I can't exactly help my emotions, now can I?" I shot back, glaring at him briefly, readjusting the strap of my bag, for it was sliding off my shoulder I was walking away so aggressively.

"What can I do?" Will questioned, sounding slightly exasperated. He fell into step with me and I glanced over at him.

"It's fine. I'll get over it," I mumbled. "I'm just…a little sensitive, all right. I don't…" I slowed my walk, gripping the strap of my bag. "I don't want to lose the people I have left." I came to stop and stared at the ground for a long moment before looking over at Will, who'd stopped too. "If I ever do anything to jeopardize our relationship, please, just…tell me, and I'll do what I can to fix it, okay?"

Will's eyes softened. "Victoria…"

"I'm sorry I took my anger out on you," I told him, feeling kind of awkward now.

"…thank you."

I nodded, stood there for another moment of awkward silence, before I started walking back to the cabin again.

My day didn't get much better from there. Late afternoon, it was Viola's turn to leave. Only, she was going back into the real world for normal things, like school, rather than to go search for Percy. She didn't quite understand the situation, but she did hope we found him.

My cabin and I walked up with her to the crest of the hill. Argus was waiting by the van, parked on the side of the road, to take her back into the city. Before us, the sun was setting, casting long shadows across the valley.

Viola bounded up to Peleus, who let her pet his nose again. She was saying goodbye to him as we reached the top of the hill. My siblings went to say their goodbyes as she turned away from Peleus. I waited, watching them. I felt my chest swell with melancholy and my eyes stung with tears. I would miss her, but hopefully, she'd be back this summer and I'd get to see her again. Surprisingly enough, I'd grown attached to her. She was like my brother in that she was like her very own sun—bringing light, and cheerfulness, and happiness everywhere she went. The cabin was going to feel that much emptier without her.

Once my other siblings were done saying their goodbyes, Viola turned to me, and they parted for her. She was crying, but she seemed happy to be heading home and I couldn't blame her. Since coming, she'd seen her mom every now and again, but she must have felt severely homesick by now.

She sniffled, her lower lip shaking and I kneeled, opening my arms. She ran toward me, throwing her arms around me. I felt my own tears spill from my eyes as I squeezed her to me, not really wanting to let go, but knowing I'd have to.

"I'm going to miss you, sweetheart," I said, stroking her hair. Her arms tightened around me.

"I'm gonna miss you, too," she sniffled. "Don't stop singing, okay? For me?"

I pulled away, smiling and ruffling her hair, before wiping some of her tears from her cheeks. "I promise." I wiped some of my own tears away. "Hey, speaking of that, I was wondering if you could make an amendment to my swear on the Styx. You know how Will explained sometimes I can't move when my chronic pain is bad?" Viola nodded. "If someone requests me to sing, I'd rather not be punished because I couldn't move that day."

"Oh! Well, I officially change your swear: I want you to sing when someone requests it, but if you physically can't, then you don't have to." She grinned and I pulled her into another hug. I wasn't sure if that's exactly how it worked, but the Styx was a magic river in the Underworld. It also didn't hurt to at least try.

"Thank you, sweetie." I tightened my arms around her for a long moment before pulling back and fixing her hair. "You be careful, okay? Remember what I told you?"

"Kick ass and take names?" she asked, cocking her head.

"Victoria!" Will hissed, while my other siblings snickered. I glanced at him before looking back at Viola with a guilty smile. We both giggled.

"No—well, yes, but the _other_ thing I told you, too."

"Do no harm and take no shit!"

Will groaned. "You are a _terrible_ influence."

"That's it," I confirmed, winking. "And be careful." I reiterated, standing.

Viola laughed. "You said that already."

"I'm double-y reminding you," I joked, forcing a smile and ruffling her hair again to hide my real worry. If I was being honest, Nyssa's words had really gotten to me. Looking back, it did seem like a lot of people had died because of me—being near me, interacting with me. It was one of the reasons I couldn't look at any reflective surface, in fear that I'd see those I'd let die because I'd been a coward.

"Okay," Viola breathed, taking a deep breath and making her way down the hill. At the bottom, she turned and looked back up at us, waving using her whole arm. "Bye! I'll see you in the summer!"

We all echoed her goodbyes, waving back. We kept waving as she got into the van and as Argus drove off. And we watched as the van drove down the road, turning into a tiny dot before disappearing along the horizon. Slowly, my siblings made their way down the hill and back to their activities. I stood on the crest of the hill and continued to watch the horizon.

"You gonna be okay?" Will asked quietly, coming to stand next to me.

"She'll be fine," I assured myself, taking a shaky breath.

"She's still young, she'll be just fine." Will agreed, sounding more confident than I did.

"I'll survive," I finally answered, turning away from the road and making my way down the hill.

* * *

"I didn't realize…" Annabeth trailed off, looking thoughtfully out at the ocean. We were currently sitting on the beach. I had just finished cleaning the outside restrooms. I'd noticed her when I'd gone up to sit with Peleus and watch the sunrise, but didn't want to risk deviating from my chore list. I was glad to find she was still there after I'd finished, because I'd been wanting to talk to her since yesterday.

However, after I'd sat down, I lost all my nerve, not sure _what_ to say. She didn't seem to mind my being there, though, so I'd let the silence fill the air for a while, just listening to the sound of the ocean waves, feeling the breeze.

I waited for her to continue, not sure where she was going with that sentence.

"The Hephaestus cabin," she finished, looking over me through a bit of a sideways glance.

I understood immediately and looked away from her, out across the horizon, wishing I had wings so I could just fly off into oblivion.

"Most of the campers here don't like or trust me," I informed her.

"Because of what happened." It wasn't a question. "During the Titan War," she added.

I nodded. "The Hephaestus and Aphrodite cabins are the worst." My voice turned hoarse and I cleared my throat, keeping my eyes toward the sea. "The Ares cabin puts up with me, but I honestly think it's mostly because they have the opportunity to wail on me when I want to train with them. The newer cabins aren't as bad—all they hear are the stories, but if you ask around, you'll know what they're saying about me. What they tell others. I don't know, for obvious reason."

Annabeth paused, before looking down, for she'd kept her eyes on me the whole time I'd been talking. "I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "I'm used to it." That was a lie, but I wasn't ready to reveal everything about my life here at camp to Annabeth. She'd been gone since the war, she'd missed a lot. And it wasn't like we were all that close, either.

"I mean it," Annabeth said. "I'm sorry for being so mistrustful of you. After everything that's happened…I just…"

I looked over at the daughter of Athena. "Really, it's okay." Annabeth glanced back at me, giving me a sad half-smile.

"You look exhausted," I commented.

Annabeth snorted. "Been having trouble sleeping," she murmured, her eyes going back to the ocean.

"You'll get used to it," I told her truthfully, turning my gaze there as well.

There was a beat of silence before she commented dryly, "Inspiring."

I glared at the sand, frowning. "I'm not good at inspiring."

Annabeth made a noise again, but it sounded more like laughter. I looked over at her to see that she seemed to be trying to stifle her snickers. Her eyes were brimmed with tears though—hysterical laughter.

I looked out across the waves and let her take her time, get through her laughter that quickly turned into tears and quiet sobs.

"I can't breathe," Annabeth finally said quietly. "Every moment he's gone…"

I took a steadying breath, hearing her describe what I'd been feeling for the past few months was almost too much. It opened wounds that were still trying to heal (and failing utterly).

"Hollow," I mumbled.

"It aches," Annabeth added.

"Right in the middle of your chest."

"How do you even handle it?"

"Some days are harder than others," I said, my voice catching. I swallowed hard and forced my voice to work. "Having friends and siblings helps."

"I can't just…" Annabeth started, sounding more emotional that I'd heard since the beginning of our conversation. "…sit around and not _do_ anything."

"Are you going to search for him?" I asked, looking over at her. She was looking determinedly out at the ocean.

"Yes, but I have a lot of planning to do first." With that said, she got to her feet and started back toward camp. A few footsteps in, I heard her pause before they were approaching me again. I looked up as she came to a stop next to me. "Thank you."

"Of course."

She went off again, with new purpose in her stride.

I looked back out at the ocean and rising sun. I closed my eyes, letting its golden rays infuse warmth into my bones, listening to the sound of the ebbing and flowing of the ocean. Today was going to be a hard day just because I'd used so much energy yesterday, but right now, I had enough energy, and my chronic pain seemed to just be background noise.

* * *

I was just finishing up putting away all the supplies from my morning chore when Annabeth approached me. Her grey eyes were bright with light that I hadn't seen since Percy's disappearance.

"I had a dream last night," she said, jumping right into it. "I mean, I have dreams almost every night, but this time it was different. It was from Hera and she told me that if I wanted to find Percy, I had to travel to the Grand Canyon and find someone with one shoe. That would be the answer to my problem. Despite the message being from Hera, it's a new lead, and better than what we had yesterday."

"Oh, that's great!" I said, closing the shed door and starting toward the Apollo cabin. Annabeth followed.

"Chiron's going to be helping me plan everything this morning," she explained. "I was talking as soon as I woke up from the dream, and we could've planned the whole thing, but he said I should take a break and eat something. Anyway, he received a message, early this morning from Gleeson Hedge—you know, one of the older scouting saytrs?" I nodded. "He found some demigods that need extracting at the Grand Canyon. It lines up too perfectly to be a coincidence."

"So, you're going to be heading off today, then, I assume?"

"Yes, I've been planning this out and I'm going to finalize it with Chiron after breakfast—I'm going to ask Will if I can borrow the flying chariot and ask Butch to help steer since he's great with the pegasi. I also wanted to talk to you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Well…I want you to come with me and Butch."

I froze and looked at Annabeth in shock. "You…you want me to come along?" I asked to make sure I'd heard her right.

Annabeth nodded with a small smile. "You've been a good friend to me these past couple of days. And I know you're friends with Percy, too. It seems right you should come along."

I started walking again, thinking. Annabeth fell into step beside me. "Are you sure? I mean…I'm not really sure what I could do—"

"I'm sure," Annabeth said confidently. "Besides, I don't know _what_ exactly were going to find and it would be useful to have another fighter with us. I've even called in Porkpie for you. Percy told me about your past experiences together and I figured, since you were comfortable with him, he'd be the best choice. He's waiting by the stables. I thought the earlier the better.

"I'll talk to Chiron to make sure you're cleared to go, too, of course, but I'm sure he'll be fine with it." Annabeth finished before looking at me expectantly.

It was hard to say no to such a thought-out plan. And under those piercing grey eyes? Annabeth was very convincing when she wanted to be. It was also nice to see more energy and life in her again. (Some part of me was afraid of what would happen if Percy wasn't at the Grand Canyon, but at least she knew that I would be there for her if she needed.)

I suddenly recalled that some big-bad was sending bigger and meaner monsters after me whenever I stepped off camp grounds and almost froze in my tracks again. I only stumbled, but I had no doubt Annabeth had seen. She just didn't say anything.

"I wouldn't want to burden you, weigh you down," I said, not willing to reveal the real reason I didn't want to go.

"You wouldn't be a burden at all," she assured.

"Well, I—lately, it seems like I've been attracting some pretty nasty monsters. I wouldn't want to introduce more risk to an already pretty risky mission," I tried explaining in the least amount of words and detail possible.

Annabeth shrugged like this was no big deal. "We all attract monsters. Three is a pretty good number, though, for missions."

I made a noise of hesitation, not sure what else to say that could possibly sway her decision, but without also revealing too much information, because _I_ didn't even have all of it. Something big was happening—with Percy's disappearance—and it was only getting bigger. I had a feeling that whoever was sending these nasties after me was part of whatever was going on.

"Please?" Annabeth asked, as we stopped just a few feet away from my cabin. I turned to look at her, ready to make an excuse, but froze up when I saw the look in her eyes. She was showing vulnerability. To me. Of all people. _Again_.

Which made it that much harder to decline. It wasn't just that I was afraid I might attract something bigger and meaner, I also had other chores I needed to do. And, if I'm being honest, I was afraid what would happen if I didn't get my chores done like I usually did during the week. Not only that, but I wasn't quite feeling it this morning. These past three days had been hard for the whole camp, and I hadn't had time to recover from the initial shock of everything yet.

Additionally, my dreams were getting worse and worse, which meant I was getting less and less sleep. Worse still, my chronic pain didn't seem to ever lower to something I could ignore easily. It took at least a third of my concentration, which made it hard to do other tasks, because I was wasting a ton of my energy on just trying to function normally.

"I'm sorry, Annabeth, I can't," I managed through a tight throat, trying to tell myself that this was a good decision as her face fell. "But it sounds like you've got everything under control. I appreciate that you thought of me, but Butch should be enough. Besides, if it's just extraction, you should be fine." I paused a moment, but Annabeth didn't move. "I'll…I'll see you off. If Porkipie's still here when you leave, I'd like to say hi to him, too. I haven't seen him in a while."

Annabeth took a deep breath and tried for a courageous smile. "Okay. Just…just thought I'd ask. I'll go talk to Porkpie, see if I can get him to stick around for a bit."

"Thank you," I said. "And I'm sorry, really, I am."

Nodding, Annabeth turned and started to head to the stables. I watched her go with my guilt churning in my chest, but I tried to logically argue against it as Annabeth disappeared into the hustle and bustle of camp. It _was_ the right decision.

Right after lunch, it was time for Annabeth to leave. The camp wished her well (of course, at this point everyone already knew everything they needed to know about her dream and this mission) and I followed her and Butch out of the dining pavilion.

Butch went straight to the chariot and started to hook up two of the three pegasi who were grey, unlike Porkpie who was pure white. Porkpie was waiting next to them, shifting on his hooves.

I couldn't help but smile as I approached. I hadn't seen Porkpie in a while. As Annabeth had said, Porkpie and I had a past. During my stay on the monster cruise ship, Kronos had tried to make it look like I'd abandoned Luke by drugging me, then chaining me to a sinking car in the East River. Percy had found me and rescued me, allowing me to ride Porkpie back to California. Then, when I'd followed Percy and Beckendorf to the cruise ship when they'd gone to blow it up, Silena had called in Porkpie for me. I'd also called to the pegasus after the ship had exploded and I had _tried_ to save Beckendorf.

Since then, most of my travel was by car, to the city (and from the city, to the Underworld), so there wasn't really any need to call Porkpie in.

"Hey, Porkpie," I greeted as I came up to him. He shifted on his hooves, ruffling his wings and snorting. I laughed. "It's good to see you, too." I reach up and he came forward, letting me pet his nose. "I hope Annabeth told you the news that I won't be joining you today."

Porkpie snorted and shook his head, shifting back a little. I snickered. "Attitude much?" I asked. He shook his head again. "Can I make it up to you with sugar cubes?" There was a pause as he shifted on his hooves before snorting again, more in a resigned manner, and trotted forward again. I resumed petting his nose, my eyes flickering over to Annabeth and Butch, who were both standing in the chariot now.

"Good luck, I hope you find him." I said, meeting Annabeth's eyes.

"Thank you." She looked over at Butch and nodded. He flicked the reins and the pegasi started off. They headed toward the shore, because there was strip of land that acted as a good runway for taking off and landing. Once they'd taken to the skies, made a U-turn, and flew back over camp, heading west, I looked back at Porkpie. "Ready for those sugar cubes?" He whinnied and nodded his head. I laughed again. "Okay, I'll be right back."

I'd have to go into the Big House, but at this point, if I had to go through the front room, I kept my eyes on the floor, held my breath, and got through as fast as humanly possible. We'd had that décor for around a month and I hadn't gotten used to it, but I was learning to live with it. Thankfully, I didn't have to go into the Big House that often anymore. Most of my life took place around camp and in my cabin.

Still, the experience always made my pulse pound. When I got back to Porkpie with a handful of sugar cubes, my hands were shaking.

"Ta da!" I presented the cubes to him, but just as he was going to get them, I pulled back slightly. "Just don't tell Percy, okay? He'd get after me if he found out I was giving you junk food."

Porkpie snorted, lifting his nose toward my face. I lurched back and held up a hand, chuckling. "All right, all right, here you go." I held out my other hand and let him nibble on the cubes. "Are you going to join the search party?" I asked absently, as he crunched. Porkpie nodded just so. I looked out across camp as he finished up the cubes, dreading having to go finish out my day. Though this had used some of my energy, it was nice to say hello to an old friend I hadn't seen in a while.

When Porkpie finished I petted his nose once more. "All right, duty calls. Good luck on your search."

Porkpie huffed again, spreading his wings and flapping them, possibly to stretch them out. I waved as he took off, flying over camp, toward the west. I watched him slowly disappear into the sky, wishing I had wings, too, so I could just fly away from it all.

* * *

I was in the middle of the advanced swordsmanship class when suddenly there was a loud FWHOOM northeast of us. Knowing that Annabeth would be returning sometime today, I figured it had something to do with that. Though, I wasn't sure what. And it didn't exactly sound _good_.

I dismissed the class and after haphazardly putting the swords away (as they were doing this, I took three more ibuprofen), we all ran over to where everyone else was: the lake. As I came up to the scene, people were being pulled out of the lake and being blow-dried with one of the inventions from the Hephaestus cabin (made before they'd been cursed). Behind them was a ruined chariot and Butch who was cutting the pegasi loose from the reins. Thankfully, they looked uninjured. The chariot on the other hand wasn't looking so good. If I had a guess, they'd crash-landed.

I saw Will's blond hair moving as he pushed his way through the crowd and I carefully started to maneuver my way to the front as well, so I could stand next to him. And hopefully be there—as much as I could with so many around us—for Annabeth if needed.

"Annabeth," Will exclaimed as he got to the front. "I said you could _borrow_ the chariot, not destroy it!"

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth apologized. "I'll get it fixed, I promise."

Will frowned before his eyes flickered to the other three demigods. I followed his gaze.

They looked older than thirteen, which was strange, because the gods had promised to claim their children by thirteen (curtesy of Percy, who'd made the request after saving Olympus). Two boys and one girl. One boy looked like Captain America: close-cropped blond hair, striking blue eyes, All-American. He looked confused at the camp, all the campers, but it was mixed with surprising awareness. The other boy was lankier, with dark skin, much like mine (so Latino at least), brown hair and brown eyes. He was never still, always moving, fidgeting, his eyes darted around, taking all the new stimuli in. The girl had even darker skin than the boy, with choppy brown hair, the longer strands braided. Her eyes kept changing color, almost as if refracting light as she looked around and adjusting the color from that.

I didn't know where Hedge was, though, which was strange because usually the satyr came with us back to camp after an extraction unless they had a suspicion there were more demigods. Then again, he was older, and had been put at the Wilderness School to channel all the energy had had.

Percy wasn't with them.

"These are the ones?" Will asked. "Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

"Claimed?" the fidgety boy asked.

"Any sign of Percy?" I queried, not giving anyone any time to answer the kid.

"No," Annabeth sighed. Behind me, the rest of the campers muttered and murmured amongst themselves.

I caught Annabeth's eyes and mouthed, "We'll find him."

She tried for a small smile, but I could see the hope dimming in her eyes. "Thank you," she mouthed back.

"Well," a different voice exclaimed. I instantly tensed up, recognizing the voice of Drew Tanaka, head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, having succeeded Silena. "I hope they're worth the trouble."

The fidgety kid snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"

"No kidding," Captain America chimed in. I recognized his contained anger, it was similar to the way Percy spoke when he was trying to contain his anger. "How about some answers before you start judging us—like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to say?"

"Jason," Annabeth said in a calming voice. "I promise we'll answer your questions. And Drew"—she frowned in Drew's direction—"all demigods are worth saving. But I'll admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I hoped."

"Hey," the girl with multi-colored eyes spoke up. "We didn't ask to be brought here."

I wasn't used to the defensiveness when new demigods were brought to camp, and for some reason it was starting to annoy me. Completely irrational, I know, because they obviously had no idea what was going on or why Percy's disappearance meant so much, but I still found I was annoyed.

Drew ignored the other girl's anger and sniffed derisively. "And nobody _wants_ you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"

The other girl stepped forward, her eyes flashing, her fists clenching. I took a tiny step back, my hands twitching to my sword out of instinct.

"Piper, stop," Annabeth said sternly. The girl, Piper, clenched her jaw, but didn't make any other move that would indicate she was going to attack. I tried to get myself to relax. Annabeth continued, "We need to make our own feel welcome." She stared pointedly at Drew. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."

"Would somebody please tell me what _claimed_ means?" Piper exclaimed, looking as annoyed and frustrated as I was getting with these three new demigods' behavior.

Just as she finished speaking, a hologram of a fiery hammer appeared above the fidgety kid's head. While people behind me and around me gasped in surprise, I immediately tensed up and scowled. Wonderful, another Hephaestus kid to hate me. Perfect. I didn't like any of the kids Annabeth had brought back. Now I _really_ disliked him, in particular.

"That," Annabeth said, pointing to the hologram, "is claiming."

"What'd I do?" the boy asked, backing toward the lake. I didn't realize how he _couldn't_ see the hologram, at the very least the glow of the hologram, but I didn't care. I was growing more and more ticked off the longer I stayed.

The boy finally looked up and yelped at the image. "Is my hair on fire?" he questioned in a panicked voice, ducking, bobbing, and weaving, the hologram following him. But there was lag, so it looked like he was doodling with it.

"This can't be good," I heard Butch mutter. He'd come to stand next to Annabeth, having finished cutting the pegasi free. "The curse—"

"Butch, shut up," Annabeth snapped. "Leo, you've just been claimed—"

"By a god," Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

My eyes flickered over to him, wondering why he'd said Vulcan instead of Hephaestus.

"Jason," Annabeth said warily. "How did you know that?"

Jason frowned. "I'm not sure."

"Vulcan?" Leo exclaimed. "I don't even _like Star Trek_. What are you talking about?" I rolled my eyes.

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth explained. "The god of blacksmiths and fire."

The hologram started to fade, finally, but Leo kept swatting at it like a bug he couldn't hit. "The god of _what_? Who?"

Annabeth turned toward Will. "Will, would you take Leo, give him a tour? Introduce him to his bunkmates in Cabin Nine."

"Sure—" Will started but was interrupted by yet another voice, coming from behind the crowd.

"Victoria!" they called, making me jump and spin around, looking for the sound of the voice. "Victoria?"

"Uh…right here!" I called, still searching, but there were too many people.

"Excuse me! Coming through! Pardon me!" they yelled. "Let…me…through!" With one last shove, a satyr, Alton, burst forth, stumbling a few steps before straightening up and looking around.

I approached him as his gaze found me, wondering what was wrong. He looked flushed and winded like he'd just run over here. "What, what's wrong?"

"We just got a message from TJ. He's in trouble. He found another half-blood on accident." Alton explained.

"Alton, you know I don't do that anymore—"

"It's urgent. They're both in _real_ trouble. TJ asked, specifically, for you."

I shook my head, feeling guilty—I'd formed some kind of acquaintanceship with TJ because of all the rescue missions we'd gone on—but if I went to help, I would only attract more danger. "I-I'm sorry. Go talk to Chiron, he knows—"

"Chiron sent me to get you," Alton interrupted.

I blinked trying to process the information. "I can't…can't just—"

"It asked for you, too." Alton said, but I my brain had been expecting him to make an argument like that and so had filled in the wrong words.

"I'm sorry, but even TJ is asking for me—"

"No," Alton interrupted, his eyes holding mine, swirling with worry and confusion and concern. I wasn't sure if it was for me or for his friend—I'd gone on rescue missions with Alton as well. Or both of us. " _It_. The monster. The monster asked for you."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right! So! Here's this chapter…*gestures to chapter with hand robotically*
> 
> I'm sorry it took _so_ long. I had a rough couple of weeks—it's been like two weeks, right?—and I hit somewhat of a writer's block, too. Finally took the GRE, but then had to catch up on work I accidentally neglected while studying for said GRE, and just didn't have the time or energy to write.
> 
> I'm not super pleased with this chapter, but we _finally_ got to meet the Other Trio! Yay! :D Originally, actually, I was going to have Tori go with Annabeth, but then as I was trying to get past my writer's block realized that it wasn't going to work how I wanted it to, because it felt like too much rehashing of what happens in the beginning of TLH, and also I felt like if I keep saying bigger, meaner monsters get sent to kill her, I had to live up to that expectation, and didn't quite know how to fit that into Annabeth's mission. So I changed it, as you can see.
> 
> And now, cliff-hanger. Because I love them more than life.
> 
> I'll update as soon as I can (which will hopefully be sometime during next week, by the next weekend if not). I'm really excited to finally move into the HOO plot…I just have to work out some things for the next chapter. _Hopefully_ , that won't take me long. (Knock on wood.)
> 
> Title is also the title from a book/upcoming movie. The premise of the book has, like, _nothing_ to do with this chapter, but the title came to mind because of how this chapter ends. I thought it fit, and I really liked it, so I used it. (For those of you who've read the book, I hope you don't mind. I haven't read the book, but I saw the full, theatrical trailer when I went to see _Kubo and the Two Strings_ —which ya'll should go see—and it seems like it has a really good, important message. By using the title, I, by no means, am trying to take that message away.)
> 
> Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	14. My Wounds, Your Sutures

"Details," I said, my hands going up to my hair to unbraid my Dutch braid and put it into a milkmaid braid.

"A half-blood was looking up information about the sphinx and, it, well, appeared," Alton explained. "TJ managed to evacuate the building. But now they're stuck inside. The monster is hunting them." I finished putting my hair into the milkmaid braid, putting a small spell on it, to keep it in place and to prevent any stray hairs from getting out.

"Where?" I asked, turning slightly toward Will and holding out my hand expectantly. With a slightly bewildered look, he unslung his quiver of arrows and handed it over to me. Thankfully, since I kept my other weapons on me at all times, I was all ready to go.

"Bard Early College, on the corner of Stanton and Mangin Street," Alton replied as I slung the strap over my shoulder and started to head away from the lake. "It's just off the…" Alton trailed off, I gave him a strange look as we walked quickly along.

"Wait!" Will exclaimed as the crowd parted for me.

"Just off the…?" I prompted, trying to think of the street names Alton'd given me.

"Victoria!" Will called. Alton and I continued to ignore him, heading in the direction of the vans.

"The Williams—"

"Williamsburg Bridge," I finished in a hoarse voice. During the Second Titan War, Percy had assigned the Apollo cabin to defend the Williamsburg Bridge. We'd survived the first wave and had to call in reinforcements when the second came. Percy and Annabeth had arrived to help and together, we'd fought off the second wave. It wasn't until the third wave, with Kronos himself leading it, did things take a turn for the worse. We'd already lost two siblings, but Michael—

Michael had been the head counselor for the cabin. I hadn't had a very good relationship with him when I returned to camp because he blamed me for Lee's death (the previous head counselor for the Apollo cabin). After a raid, where we almost lost Will, he started treating me better, forgiving me. We grew close. During that final battle against the third wave, Percy had used his powers to create a chasm in the bridge to prevent Kronos from crossing it.

Unfortunately, for Michael, who'd climbed up onto one of the supports to tell Percy to use his powers, the bridge shook, violently. He'd fallen into the East River.

I'd been standing near him and hadn't been fast enough to reach him, to grab his hand and stop his fall. I saw him plunge to his death and disappear into the water.

Blinking rapidly in an attempt to dispel these memories, I tried to focus on the task at hand. "Uh…and the-the… sphinx, it's asking for me?" I questioned.

Alton nodded.

"Is Argus driving?"

"Hey!" Will called again. Alton and I both kept walking.

"No, too short notice. I've got the keys right here." Alton held out the keys and I grabbed them just as Will, followed by the rest of our siblings, and Leo (who was being dragged by Will by the wrist) caught up to Alton and I.

"Hold on!" Will exclaimed, releasing Leo's wrist. "You can't just drop everything and go! I'm coming with you."

"I don't have time for this, Will," I ground out through gritted teeth, frustrated, my hands balling into fists. "I need to go. I'm going alone. End of story." I turned and tried to walk away, but Will grabbed my arm. I spun on him, jerking my arm from his grasp. His eyes were fierce, matching my anger.

"I'm not letting you go alone," he stated again.

"You don't _always_ have to do everything alone!" Cressida chimed in.

"Let us help you!" Lyra agreed.

"We're not incompetent!" Reed added.

"I _know_ that!" I yelled back.

Then they were all talking at once, their voices blending together into something incomprehensible. As their voices grew in volume, I started feeling overwhelmed. I opened my mouth to get them to stop, but I couldn't find a good place to jump in. They all just kept talking, arguing. This was too much stress right before a big mission. I needed all the energy I could get. Especially because of the fact that a good amount of it was spent merely trying to ignore my chronic pain.

" _I don't want you to get hurt!_ " I shouted, getting them all to stop in the middle of their sentences. When I realized I had their attention, I took a deep breath and continued in a more level tone. "The monster is asking for me. I don't want _anyone_ to hurt _any_ of you to get to me. I…would _never_ …be able to forgive myself. I won't put more lives in jeopardy because of me. So, _please_ , let me do this alone."

When none of them spoke, I figured that was an okay, free to go sign. Without another word, I turned away and started toward the vans again.

"Be careful," Will called. I turned back to face my siblings once more.

"I will."

I nodded at Alton and took off toward the vans again. As soon as I was out of the driveway, I gunned it. I'd been trying to convince Chiron to get a sports car, because not only were they fast, but they were also more maneuverable than a van. Unfortunately, our camp funds wouldn't allow it, sports cars were too expensive.

* * *

The closer I got to Manhattan, the foggier it got. Getting through the traffic was a nightmare—a little fog wasn't going to stop New York—and I almost considered ditching the van and running to the school. I knew, though, it wouldn't be my smartest decision. Not only did I need the van to take TJ and this half-blood back to camp, but I also couldn't run that far without exhausting myself, in this weather, especially.

So I suffered through it until I _finally_ got the building.

Oddly enough, there were empty parking spots around the building. Good for me, it was just strange. Even stranger, the fog seemed rather thick around this area. Alton had said TJ managed to evacuate everyone, but now that I was here, how had he done that without police or law enforcement of any kind being involved? There were no police cars or ambulances or fire trucks. There wasn't even the notion that they might be on their way.

Even so, I wasn't complaining. This made my job easier.

I exited the van, shoving the keys in my pocket and letting my bow spiral out, grabbing an arrow to nock. I started toward the school, keeping alert for any sign of any other monsters.

As I walked toward one of the doors, the fog growing thicker and thicker, I suddenly froze, a memory surfacing so fast and so harsh I felt my breath leave me and my heart stutter.

For a while, I'd been in the Labyrinth with Luke, searching for Daedalus so he could give us Ariadne's string. Kronos wanted Luke to do so, so that after Kronos possessed Luke's body, he could lead his army through the maze into the heart of camp. It was during this search that one of my more traumatic experiences occurred—though, to be fair, I had quite a few of those.

Me, Luke, and the rest of our group—three other demigods and two _dracaenea_ —had come across a fog like this: thick, couldn't even see a foot in front of you. It'd been a trap of the maze. One of the demigods, Brett, had been driven mad by the Labyrinth, unbeknownst to us. He'd attacked us in the fog and then trapped us in a room made of ice. We'd just barely made it all out. We never saw Brett again.

Just thinking about that experience made my pulse pound, my breath come out in ragged gasps. I remembered the hypothermia from being in the ice room for so long. I remembered the muted fear and panic I'd felt when I realized we might not make it out alive. I remembered the feeling at the thought I might lose Luke…

The noise of a fire alarm going off broke me out of my flashback. With a gasp, gripping my bow and arrow tightly, trying to keep my mind in the present I jogged up to the building. Carefully holding my bow and arrow with one hand, I pulled the door open and slipped inside.

The lights were out and the water sprinklers were going (effectively getting me wet). From the glow of light through the windows I could tell that the walls and floor were already pretty wet, meaning someone had set off the alarm again. The ringing of the fire bell was awful and distracting. Even worse, I wouldn't be able to hear monsters sneaking up on me through the noise. I'd have to find the source and try and turn it off.

However, just as I thought it, the alarm stopped, the sprinklers automatically turning off with it. I grabbed hold of my arrow and bow string again, looking up and down the hallway for any sign of life or movement. This building was huge. How was I supposed to find TJ and the half-blood?

I took a step away from the door and cringed. The floor was so damp, there was no way I was going to be able to walk silently in these halls, which was frustrating, considering I was trying to _not_ alert the monster to my presence and, preferably, _not_ die. Then again if the monster was asking for me, there really wasn't any point, because whoever was sending these uglies after me knew me enough to know I'd show up if I was told a monster was asking for me. Which was rather concerning, thinking about it.

With a frustrated but resigned growl, I picked a direction and started running, calling for TJ, figuring if I could call the sphinx away from TJ and the demigod, maybe they wouldn't get hurt. I only hoped they hadn't been hurt already. Or worse.

I turned down a few hallways, calling for TJ when suddenly, I heard what sounded like something heavy being dragged on the floor. I spun around, raising my bow and arrow. All I saw was the tail of a lion running past the crossroads and into the next hallway, out of sight. I ran toward the body (which wasn't moving) and turned down the hall the monster had run, only all I saw was its tail again as it turned down another corridor.

I narrowed my eyes, wondering what game the sphinx was playing at. Then the body groaned.

I put my arrow back into my quiver and let my bow spiral back into a ring and knelt next to TJ. I did a quick once-over, to make sure that he hadn't sustained any serious injuries that would prevent me from moving him. When I sense nothing, I gently rolled him over onto his back. He did have a scratch near his hairline, though. I silently cursed myself for not having thought to bring first-aid supplies.

I grasped TJ's shoulder and shook it. "TJ," I said a bit softly, afraid the sphinx would come back. He groaned. I shook him a little harder. "TJ, wake up!"

With a gasp, he bolted up and looked around, his arms flailing out. I stood and stepped away to avoid getting hit.

"Get back! Back I tell you!" he yelled before realizing there was no immediate threat. His eyes darted around confused before getting to me. "Victoria!" he exclaimed. I kneeled down next to him swiftly.

"Careful, you've got a pretty nasty head wound," I told him in a quiet voice to keep him calm.

"Ow." TJ mumbled, lifting his hand to his wound. I quickly grabbed it and pulled it away.

"Do you think you can walk?" I asked, ripping the bottom-half of my shirt so I could wrap his head.

"Uh…yeah, yeah." TJ blinked rapidly, his eyebrows furrowing. "Where's…where's Nick?" he asked as I started to gently wrap my makeshift bandage around his head.

"Who?"

"Nick, the…the demigod, is he…is he here, too?" TJ started looking around, which interfered with me typing up the bandage.

"Hold still," I scolded, taking his head into my hands to get him to stop moving. "No, I didn't. I only just found you. Tell me what happened." I requested as I finished tying up the fabric.

"I was…was here, looking for a different potential demigod and Nick was here, too. I guess he'd asked to use the computers in the computer lab. Or…no, he was tutoring someone and had stayed to work on a project for one of his classes. He looked up the sphinx from Greek mythology and it burst from the computer. I pulled the fire-alarm to evacuate everyone and also make a commotion, hoping it'd slow the sphinx down.

"I tried to get him out, but sphinx split us up…or-or I lost track of Nick," TJ blinked rapidly, his eyebrows furrowing. "Things are…things are really fuzzy after that." His hand went up to his wound. "I…I must've managed to get a distress call to camp before the sphinx got me. Nick…Nick may have pushed me out of the way, which is why it's so shallow and I'm not dead—

"The monster!" TJ exclaimed, looking up at me with wide eyes. His hand shot out and gripped my arm. I jumped a mile and tried not to rip my arm from his grasp. Thankfully, because I jumped, TJ let go. "Uh, sorry. The-the monster, though, it was calling for you. _Asking_ for you. It was talking about some kind of…reward…"

"Tell me what Nick looks like," I interrupted, not willing to discuss this with TJ, unsure of whether or not we were close enough to reveal to him what I'd learned from Echidna. "I'm going to try to find him," I finished.

"Um…uh, yeah, that's more important. Right, well, he's probably a little bit taller than you—five-nine? Asian. Short, close-cropped black hair. He has thick-rimmed glasses—he may have lost them. He's wearing a band t-shirt in a foreign language and jeans."

"Okay." I took the keys out of my pocket and put them into TJ's hand. "Get to the exit, the van is waiting just outside. Wait for us there."

" _What?_ " he exclaimed, his eyes going back to me. "I'm coming with you! I'm going to help!"

"You're already injured," I objected. "I'm not putting you into more danger." Why was everyone fighting me today?

"No way, that's my job. My job is dangerous. _I'm coming with you_."

"TJ—"

"You can't argue with me on this, Victoria."

Gritting my teeth I glared at him, but he met my eyes steadily.

"You are so stubborn!" I claimed, grabbing the keys back from him and standing up, slipping them into my pocket. I offered him a hand and helped him up before preparing my bow and an arrow.

I was about to head down the hallway the sphinx had gone when, suddenly, the fog from outside seemed to blow into the entire building, making it hard to see the walls and lockers. It felt more like the Labyrinth than ever and I had to focus on not completely losing it. Still as the fog swirled in, thickening around me and TJ, without really thinking, I stepped closer to him and gripped his hand, my bow automatically spiraling into the ring.

Heart pounding so hard in my chest, it hurt, I swallowed hard and looked back at TJ. I realized I was still gripping his hand and quickly let go, my bow spiraling back out.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, not meeting his eyes. "I was…was afraid I might lose you in the…the, uh—"

"No, it's-it's, uh, fine," TJ said.

"This can't be fog," I commented, looking around, not even able to distinguish which way I'd come from and which way the sphinx had gone.

"Mist," TJ replied.

 _Of course._ I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that before. Mist was so much like fog, I should've known. Curious, I reached out with my right hand, twirling my index finger around in a small circle, watching as the Mist circled around my finger in a spiral. I lightly flicked my finger and it twirled off, dissipating, blending back into the rest of the Mist.

" _Seirína_ ," the sphinx sang, its voice seemingly echoing through the hallways. It had to be some kind of magic effect of the Mist. There was no way that was possible otherwise. Unfortunately, that also meant I wasn't able to determine where it was.

"Siren?" TJ asked in a whisper.

"What do you want?" I yelled, tired of their games—the monsters' and whoever was sending them after me.

"Tsk, tsk," the sphinx called back. "I thought you'd know by now," it taunted.

I snorted. "I know what your patron wants. Why do you play such games?"

"Victoria, what is the sphinx talking about?" TJ asked. I looked at him over my shoulder. He looked confused, and a tiny bit scared. I was taken aback slightly, and I felt my heart plummet. He wasn't scare of…me? Was he?

The sphinx laughed. "Keeping secrets from your friends, I see. Have you told your siblings?"

I looked around struggling in vain to see through the Mist, getting angrier and angrier by the second. "That's none of your damn business!" I turned to face TJ. "I'll explain later, okay. I promise. Right now, we need to find Nick and get out of here."

TJ nodded. "Okay." To me slight relief, he didn't seem cautious or scared of me. Perhaps it was the events of the situation.

I turned back around to face the Mist.

"To answer your question, dear, we play games because where would be the fun in _just_ killing you?" the sphinx said in an amused but malicious tone.

I opened my mouth to respond when I heard a muffled crash come from somewhere in the building.

"What was that?" TJ asked.

The sphinx laughed again. "Oh, I guess I should've mentioned, I brought reinforcements. Just for you, Seirína."

"Why does it keep calling you that?" TJ questioned.

"I told you, later," I replied, looking around, trying to see if there were any dark shapes coming toward us through the dense fog.

A moment later, a deafening roar echoed throughout the halls. I froze, my heart shooting up into my throat before beating so fast I thought it might expel itself through my mouth.

"The Minotaur," I breathed. The sphinx laughed again, it fading like it was running away.

"How do you know?"

"My cabin faced it on Williamsburg Bridge," I explained, raising my bow and arrow as a pair of footsteps pounded toward us.

"Too light," TJ said.

"I know, but I'm not taking any chances."

Out of the fog emerged a tall-ish Asian guy just as TJ had described. He'd lost his glasses somewhere along the way. And his clothes were a bit ripped in places. His eyes were wide and scared as he ran toward us, his chest heaving.

A wind seemed to be following him, clearing away the Mist completely allowing me to see the halls in such sharp clarity my brain hurt for a moment before adjusting to the new stimuli.

My first thought of him as he ran past was: He doesn't look thirteen. Then, what was chasing him was more dangerous and a lot scarier if he didn't even flinch at nearly coming face to face with an arrow.

Thundering footsteps followed in Nick's wake.

I lowered my bow and turned in the direction Nick was going. "Run!" I instructed TJ before taking off, TJ falling into step beside me. I could've caught up, even surpassed Nick, but he was clearing away the Mist like it was nothing, with what looked like no effort, so I stayed behind. I liked being able to see where I was going.

There was another crash as we started to turn a corner and I glanced behind us just in time to see the ugly brute coming down the hallway we were just leaving. The Minotaur looked the same from when I last saw it, only now its battle fatigues were ripped and torn.

It became a game of cat-and-mouse. I think Nick tried to lead us to toward an exit, but every time the sphinx would somehow appear and we'd have to quickly turn down another hall or backtrack before the Minotaur caught up to us. We'd occasionally take breaks when we thought we'd lost the Minotaur for a time. We never spoke. Nick seemed too scared out of his mind and out of breath to really strike conversation anyway. The only good news was that he'd cleared all the Mist from the halls.

Though, if we could see better, that also meant the monsters could, too. So maybe not so good news after all.

It'd only been maybe fifteen minutes, give or take, but it felt like we'd been running for hours. Currently, we were hiding out in a small dead-end hallway. I was at the front, with my bow and arrow out, scanning and listening for the sound of the Minotaur. I suppose there was another good thing, because we'd been running around so much, our scents were intermingling, making it harder for the monsters to track us.

We couldn't do this all day, though. Nick was wheezing and coughing, I was afraid he might pass out. My energy reserves were starting to get low, which meant I was becoming more and more aware of the prickles. I had to get him and TJ (and myself, I supposed) out of here. _Soon_.

I saw the flick of a lion's tale out of the corner of my eye and ducked back behind the wall.

"So, what?" I called. TJ gave me a look that said, "What are you _doing_?" but I ignored him and continued, "Just going to let the Minotaur get all the glory and reward for killing me?"

The sphinx made a strange noise between what sounded like a growl and a laugh. "Oh, I made certain to ensure _I'm_ the one who kills you, Seirína. You don't know how excited I am to be able to rip open your stomach and watch your insides spill outside. The Minotaur is here to get rid of the nuisances you have with you." The sphinx mocked sadness, "Poor, little Nick. I can hear his breathing from here. He doesn't have long, does he?" The sphinx laughed again.

Its words only made me angry. I hated it when the people around me were threatened, treated like they were expendable. Nyssa's words rang in my head: _You're a plague. You infect those around you._

I lowered my bow and let it spiral back into a ring and put my arrow away as I got the keys to the van out of my pocket. I went up to TJ and put them into his palm, wrapping his fingers around them.

"Go to the van. Take Nick." I pulled my dagger from my waist and handed it to him. "Just in case. The Minotaur doesn't know where we are right now and I'll stay behind to distract the sphinx." I told him. Not giving him a chance to reply, I let my bow spiral out once again and notched an arrow, walking out where the hallways crossed, so the sphinx could see me clearly.

"How am I to be of use to your patron if I'm dead?" I asked, looking around, to see if I could spot it anywhere. Even just a shadow, the very end of its tail.

It was silent for a long time, and I held up my hand to motion to TJ to hold back. I held my breath, trying to hear the sphinx.

"Do you know the Second Great Prophecy?" it asked, the voice coming from my right.

I motioned for TJ to go left. He grabbed Nick's arm and started pulling him in that direction, staying close to the wall.

Though I hadn't been there when it'd been delivered, I had heard of it since going back to camp. I just couldn't believe after a war, another Great Prophecy would be produced, just like that. The kids at camp had talked about it not happening with our generation, but with the strange happenings these past few months—monsters reforming in seconds, Percy disappearing, three new half-bloods who were over thirteen arriving at camp from where Hera had told Annabeth could find Percy—I was unsure of that rumor.

I thought it a strange request, but answered it anyway.

" _Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,_ " I started, slowly making my way down the hallway to my right, keeping on high alert. " _To storm or fire, the world must fall._ " I turned down another hallway. At this point, I knew it was ambush, I just had to figure out where the sphinx was coming from before it attacked. " _An oath to keep with a final breath,_ " I recited, catching movement out of the corner of my eye. It was in the reflection of a small mirror in one of the open lockers (probably left open because of the fire alarm going off). I kept forward, though, pretending not to know the sphinx was behind me.

I nocked two arrows, making it look like I thought it was just around the corner ahead of me as I recited the last line, " _And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death_."

As I said "death" the sphinx roared and I spun around in time to see it flying at me, jaw open, nearly unhinged, showing feline teeth as sharp as daggers. Its lion's claws were out and gleamed in the light from the windows. I raised my bow, turning it sideways and let my arrows fly straight into the sphinx's eyes.

I quickly stumbled back, out of the way as the sphinx landed, shrieking with rage and pain—such a horrifying sound I almost felt bad. I watched in morbid amazement as the sphinx shook its head and pawed at the arrows in its eyes when I heard the roar of the Minotaur from my right.

My head jerked in that direction to see it standing at the end of the corridor, chest heaving. With another mighty roar, it started barreling toward me. I ran to my left, notching an arrow as I went. I wasn't sure when I'd be able to shoot it, but it was good to have in case I saw in opportunity.

I had an idea of how to get rid of the Minotaur, or at least incapacitate it long enough I could get back to the van, but I needed a shorter hallway to make it work. As I ran, I started glancing down both hallways on either side of me, my ADHD helping me get a good look without really having to stop and properly look.

As I was determining which hallway to turn down, for I was running out of breath, and the Minotaur was getting closer, two figures jumped into crossroads two hallways down. My eyes widened in disbelief and anger. I let my bow spiral down and put my arrow in the quiver. I wasn't going to stop or slow down, though, and instead basically crashed into the figures, knocking them sideways into the hallway they'd just come from just as the Minotaur speeded past us.

I got to my feet quickly and re-nocked an arrow on my bow, listening for sounds of the sphinx.

When I determined it wasn't near for now, I glared at the boy and satyr before me, who were groaning and getting to their feet.

" _What are you doing?_ " I growled as the Minotaur roared again. Letting out a sharp sigh I said, "Come on, we need to keep moving." I walked past them and into the other hall, poking my head out to make sure the coast was clear. I continued forward, heading in the opposite direction the Minotaur had been chasing me, keeping my senses open for the sphinx.

"Well?" I asked in a low voice, glaring at TJ over my shoulder.

TJ held up his hands in a surrender gesture. "Don't look at me," he complained in an equally low voice. "Nick refused to leave. Short of physically harming him, I had done my best to get him to the van."

I turned around to face them fully, to chew them out, my anger so strong, I nearly forgot we were in danger. Thankfully, turning allowed me to see the sphinx right before it lunged.

"Hit the floor!" I shouted, pushing on both Nick's and TJ's shoulder. I let my knees buckle but fell back, engaging my abdominal muscles to keep from slamming the back of my head against the linoleum floors. I also used my arms as a cushion and backup. The sphinx flew over us and I let my bow retract, leaving the arrow on the ground for now.

As soon as the sphinx had cleared us, I stood up and turned, unsheathing my sword. The sphinx had turned as well, tail lashing, jaw unhinged, showing slimy, razor-sharp teeth. It had removed the arrows from its eyes, which were still trickling blood. A gruesome sight.

"You'll pay for what you've done, you insolent halfling!" it roared, its voice shrill with rage.

I twirled my sword in my hand, though the sphinx couldn't see and said, "I'd like to see you try."

With a snarl, the sphinx lunged again, but I quickly sidestepped out of the way. My heart lurched when I remembered TJ and Nick had been behind me, but they'd gotten up and moved out of the way by now, into the hallway near us.

"The van. Go. _Now_." I barked at TJ before focusing completely on my fight with the sphinx.

As it spun around, I swiped my sword at its side. It leaped back and as it did so, I brought my sword back around, chopping off one of its legs. With a howl of agony and anger, it tried to lunge at me again, but because it was missing its front paw, didn't succeed. I used this time to chop off the other paw and as soon as the sphinx's chest hit the floor, I stepped in, raising my sword over my head before bringing it down and lopping the sphinx's head clean off.

The body and head both crumbled to dust and I kicked and spread the remains, hoping that that would stave off its reforming for now.

"Whoa."

I looked up to see TJ and Nick. Nick's eyes were wide, his jaw hanging open. TJ was nodding appreciatively.

I let out a growl of frustration. "Why is no one listening to me today?" I questioned to no one in particular. I noticed movement, then, and looked to see the Minotaur start charging at me. I quickly looked back at TJ and Nick. " _Stay here._ "

With that, I took off, letting the creature catch up to me just enough so when I turned down a hallway, it wouldn't be able to slow and follow. Then I went down to the other end of the hallway, running to find where the Minotaur had stopped and whistled a little mocking tune when I spotted it.

"Come and get me meat head," I goaded, smirking when it turned its bulky, hairy body and huffed through its nose. I quickly ran off, down the hall I'd just come. But the Minotaur had learned. I barely had enough time to turn down another hall before it caught up to me. I got half-way down that corridor before the beast was just about on my heels. I barely managed to skirt around the corner, the Minotaur's fur brushing against the back of my arm, sending waves of chills up and down my spine.

This time, though, there wasn't much place for the Minotaur to run. The hallway formed a T-junction, leading straight into a wall with only left or right to go. The corner was so sharp, and the Minotaur so big and heavy it couldn't make the turn and crashed into the wall. I kept running a ways before turning around and running back toward the disoriented monster.

A few feet away, I used the wall as a springboard, launching myself into the air and onto the shoulder of the Minotaur, quickly scrambling onto its back, wrapping my legs around its massive neck to keep my hold as it finally registered where I was and started to buck and swing wildly to dislodge me.

I had to grab onto its horns and hunch low between them to keep from falling off or getting my head slammed into the ceiling. All this acrobatics was making my pin-pricks flare up, but I did my damnedest to ignore them. I still had a missions to accomplish.

The Minotaur roared again, and started running down one of the longer corridors, possibly attempting to dislodge me by ramming into a wall. That would certainly break my legs, so I had to either jump off or dust this beast.

My sword was too long in such close quarters, and my bow and arrow wouldn't do me much good for obvious reasons. I'd need my dagger…that was with TJ. I wondered how far away I could be if I wanted to summon something. Well, now was as good a time as ever to find out.

Wrapping my arm completely around the left horn of the Minotaur, I held out of right hand and focused on the rune, calling to my dagger. As we got closer and closer to the wall, I was afraid I might have to jump off and re-try, which I was dreading. My chronic pain was starting to reach a stage where it could no longer be easily ignored.

Just as I was preparing to tuck and roll, I felt the familiar pressure hit my hand, my fingers automatically closing around the hilt. I brought it forward and unsheathed it, throwing my arm back as far as the ceiling would allow and bringing it forward into the chest of the beast.

The Minotaur staggered to a halt with a snort before completely bursting into dust underneath me. I barely had time to register this as I fell, just managing to land on the balls of my feet. Still, pain shot up my legs. Thankfully, nothing broken. Catching my breath, I half-heartedly kicked the dust around, hoping to prevent reformation.

I sheathed my dagger and attached it to my side before readying my bow and notching an arrow.

"TJ!" I called, running down to the hallway that led to the middle corridor. "Nick!"

I heard the patter of footsteps and clop of hooves getting closer and turned to my left to see them emerge from a few halls down.

"Let's go. Quickly," I instructed, running toward them and then past them, to the exit.

When we got outside, amazingly the heavy Mist that'd gathered around the building had miraculously and completely disappeared. There was still fog, however, it didn't feel as heavy and dense. I wondered where the Mist had even gone, but knew there were more important things to be focusing on.

TJ tossed me the keys as I headed toward the driver's door. TJ and Nick sat in the back as I quickly drove onto the main road. I tensed as we went over the bridge and let out a small breath when we made it over safely. Getting through traffic was just as much of a nightmare as it was getting here, made worse by the fact that both monsters could show back up at any point in time looming over me.

Occasionally I glanced back at Nick, to see how he was doing. From what I could tell he didn't looked too shocked or surprised about all this (though he was looking a little pale). Then again, he looked like he was in his late teens, early twenties, so he could've been one of the rare rogue demigods. Maybe from a minor god or goddess since it didn't seem he'd encountered too many hardships concerning monsters. At the very least, big, dangerous ones.

Though, I realized, he'd been quiet ever since I'd gotten here and wondered if maybe that was his form of dealing with trauma or if he was just quiet. Still, as long as he wasn't injured or going into shock, then I only had to worry about the monsters.

When we made it to the main road that would take us to camp, I gunned it, as I usually did, checking one more time that everyone had seatbelts on in case we had to make an unexpected stop.

Half-way there, I heard TJ inhale sharply.

"Victoria," he said. I glanced back toward him and he pointed out the window. I nearly swerved in shock because the Minotaur was _right_ next to van, running alongside it. Nick made a choking noise and I looked to my left side to see the sphinx, with both eyes again, on the left side of the van.

"Hold on, things may get a little bumpy." I muttered through gritted teeth, gripping the steering wheel and pushing down further onto the gas pedal. "TJ, I need you to be my eyes on that side. I have a plan."

I had a feeling they were surrounding us and going to ram into the van on either side, to try and make us crash. I was going to try my hardest not to let that happen. TJ was silent after I'd explained what I wanted him to do, so I glanced back at him. He looked nervous, but nodded. I turned back to the road, keeping my eyes on the sphinx. I watched for the slightest change in pace or any indication of drifting in.

I was hit with a sudden chill across the back of my neck and time seemed to slow right before TJ shouted, "Now!"

I immediately hit the brakes, the van coming to a screeching halt, the smell of burned tire against asphalt wafting into my nose. In front of me, the sphinx and Minotaur collided into each other, the sphinx letting out a pained howl as the Minotaur's horns impaled the sphinx's chest.

I quickly turned the wheel sharply to the left and hit the gas as they struggled to untangle themselves from each other. It was hard to maneuver around them, seeing as they took up a majority of the road, and do so fast at such a sharp angle, but I managed to drive past them. Of course, it'd taken me so long that as we were passing them the sphinx had managed to break free from the Minotaur and swiped as the side of the van.

I kept driving, but the sound of nails raking through metal was horrific. TJ let out a yelp and I glanced back, my heart jumping in my chest. He was holding his arm close to his chest and leaning away from his door. At the very least I saw no blood.

"Are you okay?" I yelled over the sound of wind whistling through the rips of the van, turning back to face the road.

"I-I'm fine," TJ replied.

I pressed harder on the gas, glancing out the review mirror. They were chasing after us again, but the sphinx was now a lot slower because of its wounds. I pressed harder as the Minotaur got closer. We were _so close_.

I didn't relax until we'd crossed the border to camp, careening into the driveway and coming to another screeching halt. I sat there for a moment to revel in the fact that we'd all made it out alive—the static nearly invading my mind completely, which I had to then fight off—before quickly unbuckling my seatbelt and getting out. I ran around to the back of van, searching for any camper that may be near the Big House.

I spotted Clarisse coming out of the armory and whistled as loud as I possibly could. Her head turned and looked around automatically and I waved my arms to grab her attention. She started jogging over, to which I was grateful for. Though, as she got closer I noticed a fierce scowl on her face. I wasn't sure what our relationship was after revealing the reason behind my secrecy with Silena that day on the climbing wall, but like I'd told Annabeth, the Ares campers weren't quite as hostile toward me as say, the Hephaestus and Aphrodite cabins were.

"What is it?" Clarisse asked as she got up to me.

"We've got a Minotaur and sphinx outside the camp's borders," I explained. "Think you could send a scouting group to go and dust them or scare them away? I have to get this half-blood in to see Chiron."

Clarisse eyed me up and down for a long moment before nodding. "Sure." With that she turned and ran off.

I let out a slow breath before going to Nick's side and opening the door. He was looking even paler now and I was instantly concerned.

"Are you okay?" I asked. I couldn't sense any wounds, but he could be going into shock, which was still dangerous. He'd also been wet and cold for who knew how long.

Nick nodded slowly, turning to look at me. He opened his mouth, I assumed, to answer. Instead, he leaned over the side of the car and threw up on my pants and shoes. I cringed but ignored this as Nick straightened up, wiping his mouth—I'd experienced worse. I looked over at TJ, whose wide eyes were flickering back and forth between me and Nick.

"Are _you_ okay?" I asked him.

"Uh…" He blinked, finally meeting my gaze. "I'm…fine." His hand came up and weakly pointed, presumably to where Nick had thrown up on me. "You're not gonna…?"

Just then Nick pitched sideways, out of the van, toward me.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a sudden, kind of cliff-hanger-y ending. The chapter was getting kind of long. Also, I am a smol, fragile bean who needs validation and positive reinforcement like plant life needs sunshine and water.
> 
> Also sorry for not getting this to you last weekend. I was having trouble working out the details of this mission—which, tbh, I still don't quite like—but like I said: smol, fragile bean. Also, it's just…it's just been a long week and a half. For various reasons.
> 
> Thankfully, hopefully, since I have quite a bit of the next chapter written already, I'll be able to get it written up and posted by this weekend, so you'll get two chapters in a relatively short time span! :D No promises, but I know more of what I'm going to do now than I did with this chapter, so that's good.
> 
> Title taken, and then edited slightly, from FOB's song, "Immortals."
> 
> As always, I hoped you enjoyed!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	15. Wish I Could Be

My arms automatically reached out so I could catch him, my knees nearly buckling myself. When I got my footing again, I carefully maneuvered him out of the van. He was still conscious, but just barely. Carefully keeping him up with one arm around his shoulders, I used my free hand and whistled for one of my siblings.

TJ quickly got out of the van and came over to help me keep Nick upright. Nick moaned about the world spinning and feeling sick as I readjusted, so that TJ and I each had one of Nick's arms over our shoulders.

"Help me start getting him to the infirmary," I said, gesturing to the Big House with my head. TJ nodded and we started to carefully lead Nick to the porch of the Big House. As I was reaching the door, it swung open and I jumped back, nearly dropping Nick and setting TJ off balance.

Annabeth also jolted back in shock. Behind her was…Captain America—what was his name again?

"Oh, you're back," Annabeth commented, blinking. I nodded, not sure what to say.

"Uh…we've got to get him into the infirmary. I think he's going into shock," I explained.

"Oh, of course!" Annabeth quickly stepped out, looking back at Captain America expectantly, who swiftly followed.

"Thanks," I said, shuffling forward. "We'll talk later, if you're up for it, yeah?" I asked, looking back at her over my shoulder.

She blinked rapidly before nodding. I turned back around and TJ and I carefully maneuvered Nick through the door.

I tried not to drop Nick and sprint through the front room, instead keeping my eyes on the floor and letting TJ guide me toward the door.

TJ said hello to Rachel as we passed through, and I wondered what she was doing in here with Annabeth and Captain America, but was too nervous about just _being_ in the room to really care or stop to ask. Besides, Nick was top priority right now.

Once we were through, we went to one of the cots and carefully set him down. Nick sat listlessly on the edge, slightly swaying. His faces and lips were completely drained of color.

"Can you get a glass of water for him? I'm going to grab a blanket," I requested from TJ. He nodded and headed out of the infirmary. I went to one of the closets and grabbed one of the blankets we kept for situations like these. I threw the blanket over Nick's shoulder. His shaking hands came up to grab either edge, pulling it tighter around him. I sat down on the cot opposite to him, taking deep breaths. But they were shaky because of the pain I was in. I just had to wait until one of my siblings came. Then hopefully I'd be able to make it back to the cabin. The pin-pricks were beginning to become unbearable.

TJ came back a few moments later and set the glass of water on the bedside table.

"I'm going to go find Chiron and give him my report. Rachel mentioned bringing that other girl in with Argus's help, so they might be coming in soon." TJ told me. "You'll be all right for now?"

I frowned and furrowed my eyebrows. "Other girl?" I asked.

"Yeah, she was lying on the couch. Looked like she was sleeping, but if they're bringing her into the infirmary, she must be hurt or something," he explained.

"Okay, thanks. You go give Chiron your report. I'll be fine. See you later."

TJ nodded and clopped out. I took a deep breath, working up the energy before standing and going up to Nick. "How are you feeling?" I asked, putting the back of my hand to his forehead. He was very warm. His breathing had gotten worse. Then I remembered he was still in wet clothes. I'd have to remember to inform whichever sibling came to get him a new pair of clean, dry clothes.

"Uh…I-I'm…fine," Nick mumbled as I pulled my hand away and took a step back.

"You sure? You look a little flushed." I frowned. It was quite a change, color having flooded back into his face. I grabbed the glass of water, which TJ was kind of enough to put a straw in, and held it up to his mouth. "Here, maybe some water will help.

Nick jerked his head up to look at me, jaw slightly hanging open.

I lowered the glass slightly and leaned toward him. "Are you sure you're okay? Your face is even redder now. Maybe you should lie down, I don't want you fainting again."

His hands darted out and he grabbed the cup. "No, w-water sounds great, actually, thanks." Not giving me time to respond, he put his lips to the straw and started drinking, avoiding my gaze.

A set of footsteps sounded and I turned to see Lyra come through the door. I opened my mouth, ready to give her a quick overview of what I wanted her to do, but she froze when she saw me. A grin broke across her face and she started snickering.

"What?" I asked, irritated. I wasn't in the mood and I felt pretty ready to collapse any second now.

She pointed to my legs. "Did he…did he have an accident?" she managed through her giggles.

"This is serious, Lyra," I said. "He may be going into shock. I just want you to make sure he'll be okay until he comes out of it. Could you get him a change of dry clothes and make sure he drinks some more water? I need to go, take some ibuprofen, and clean up."

Lyra burst out laughing then. I let out a growl, but started toward the exit. Or tried to anyway. My knees were feeling wobbly and I stumbled.

Lyra's laughter stopped immediately and she straightened up going over to me, putting a hand on my shoulder, the other grabbing onto my arm.

"Hey, are _you_ okay?" she asked, concern coloring her voice.

"I'm fine," I whispered, sinking to the floor, my eyes closing. "I just…just need to rest." I felt tears brim my eyes suddenly and quickly reached up to wipe them away, annoyed with myself that I was crying. I couldn't tell if it was _because_ of the pain or because I was frustrated and angry _about_ my pain.

"Victoria, if you need—"

"I just want to get back to the cabin, okay?" I interrupted, more tears filling my eyes, which only made me more frustrated, which only made me cry more.

"Yeah, of course. Let me go get Cressida and Kayla. Here." She helped me stand and led me over to one of the cots before helping me lie down. I closed my eyes, forcing breaths through my nose, the static nearly deafening I didn't even hear my sibling leave.

I didn't hear when Lyra arrived back with Kayla and Cressida, but I did remember—vaguely—them helping me back to the cabin, take some pain meds, and then undress. I don't remember communicating to them about my wishes, but the next thing I do remember was sitting in the one bathtub (which also functioned as a shower) we had in our bathroom, letting scalding hot water run over me from the shower head. It helped with the pain.

And until the pain meds kicked in, I sat there, only shifting slightly so that the water wasn't always on my back. The prickles hadn't completely gone down to the point that I could easily ignore it, but it'd lessoned so that I could function just enough to do basic tasks.

I probably spent another fifteen, twenty minutes sitting in the tub, though, working up the energy to stand, turn off the shower, dry off, get dressed, and then dry my hair. That was a lot of work and it was exhausting just thinking about it. I supposed, I could always wait until my siblings came back to check on me—which I'm _pretty_ sure they'd said, but couldn't quite remember I'd been so out of it. At the same time, I didn't want them to use this as an excuse to start babying me again.

I allowed myself three big, deep breaths before struggling to get to my feet and turning off the water. It took me a few seconds to actually step out of the tub. Bless my siblings, they'd set out a towel and my pajamas for me while I'd been in the tub.

I dried off and slipped on my pajamas before grabbing a hairdryer from underneath one of the sink's cabinets. I plugged it in before sitting down on the floor and drying my hair. I was only doing this because I didn't like going to sleep with wet hair. It just made a mess.

Just as I was finishing up drying most of it and going to put it back into the cabinet, Lyra poked her head into the bathroom.

"Um, Victoria?" she asked.

I threw the hairdryer back into the cupboard and turned to face her again. "Yeah?"

"Um…well…Nick wanted to talk to you," she replied, looking sheepish. I started to get suspicious.

"…and?" I prompted.

"He's…he's, well, here. Now." She paused. "In our cabin."

" _What?_ " I asked, going up to the door. Lyra quickly retreated as I came out. I was about to get at her when I spotted Nick. He looked pretty sick. At least he'd changed into dray clothes. I looked back at Lyra, trying to control my anger. "He should be back in the infirmary, _resting_."

"I'm sorry, but he wanted to come see you. He really wanted to talk to you," Lyra explained.

"So?"

Lyra clicked her tongue in annoyance. "I tried to stop him! He just wouldn't relent. I wasn't about to knock him out. Unlike you, I don't want to resort to physically harming someone we're supposed to be looking after."

"I would _not_ have knocked him out!" I objected, feeling offended. Lyra merely raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. "Okay, you know what, off topic. Take him back to the infirmary. Better yet, take him into our infirmary. Can't you see how sick he looks?"

"Look, can I have a say in what _I_ do?" Nick spoke up, stepping forward, toward me. Now that he was closer, I could hear he was wheezing badly, only as far as I could tell he hadn't been running.

"No, actually, because you are our patient and should listen to what we tell you if you want to recover," I scolded. "You should be resting."

Nick blinked at my straightforwardness, looking kind of stunned. "I-I…I just wanted to…well, thank you," he stuttered. His wheezing got worse with every word and it was starting to concern me. "I also…" He coughed, holding up a hand to cover his mouth. His other hand came around his middle, like he had a stomach ache. His face was also starting to turn bright red. "…wanted to apologize—" He started coughing badly and he listed toward me. I quickly held up my hands, holding his shoulders.

"Hey, Nick, are you all right?" I asked. He didn't seem to hear me. I looked over at Lyra who was looking worried. "Go get Will." I told her. She blinked and nodded before quickly heading out of the cabin.

"…apologize," Nick repeated in a severely wheezy voice, bringing my attention back to him. "Apologize for throwing up"—another cough—"on you." He fell into a coughing fit and started to sink to the floor.

"Nick?" I asked in a worried voice, sinking with him, still gripping his shoulders. "Nick, what's wrong? What's going on?" He couldn't answer, though, because he was still coughing. A moment later, he coughed so hard, he threw up on me again. I barely even noticed, so concerned about him.

Nick's coughing stopped after that, but now he was gasping for breath, each one sounding pained and wheezier than the last. His free hand came up, away from his stomach, to grasp my arm and he looked up at me with far-away eyes.

I gripped his shoulders even harder as he started to sink lower, trying to keep him upright.

"Nick," I called. "Nick, stay with me. Hey, stay with me—" I broke off when his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slumped into me. His breathing wasn't as desperate anymore, but it still sounded just as bad.

Summoning what energy I had left, I slung his arm over my shoulder and stood, stumbling over to the infirmary, practically throwing him down into one of the cots. I kneeled next to his cot, putting a hand to his forehead. He was burning up. It could be a fever possibly, because he'd gotten wet and exposed to the middle-of-winter cold, but with such a sudden onset, I wasn't sure it was that. I watched his chest rise and fall in an irregular manner as his lungs worked overtime trying to get enough oxygen to his body. That paired with his wheezing…maybe asthma?

I heard footsteps approach and looked over to see Will come in, followed by Lyra.

Will's worried eyes met mine for a moment before he went to kneel next to the other side of Nick's cot and looked him over.

"What happened?" he asked, looking up at me. I explained the moments leading up to this, what I thought it might be and why. Will put his hand to Nick's forehead and then to his chest.

"Yeah, asthma is correct," he confirmed after a moment. Nick stirred, murmuring something. I leaned forward, trying to hear what he was saying. His eyes fluttered, sliding half-open. They were looking at me. He murmured something again, louder this time, but it was in a different language. If I wasn't mistaken, it was Chinese. And I only knew this because of the plays and musicals my brother had been in before. Unfortunately, I didn't know any Chinese whatsoever, so translating what he said would be impossible.

After he'd finished saying whatever it was he was saying, his eyes slid closed again.

"Should we give him nectar or ambrosia?" Lyra whispered.

Will looked up at her. "No, I don't think so. He's so warm, we might give him too much and not know. We'll just wait it out. We'll definitely want someone to monitor him though, make sure he doesn't go into another asthma attack." He looked back at me. "He didn't have an inhaler on him, did he?"

I shook my head and shrugged. "Not that I know of, but I didn't ask. Lyra brought him a change of clothes." Will and I looked over at her expectantly.

She also shook her head. "He didn't mention it before or after he changed."

Will looked back at Nick, frowning. After a long moment, he stood. I sunk lower, sitting on my legs, feeling exhaustion sweep over me.

"Are you going to be okay?" Will asked, looking down at me. I nodded silently.

Blinking slowly, I took a deep breath. "I can watch him. You guys should go back to…it's still dinner?" Lyra and Will nodded. "Go back to dinner, go to the sing-along, I've got this."

"You sure?" Will asked, skeptically.

"I'll just sleep in here, on another cot near Nick. I'm a light sleeper, if something happens, I'll wake up and call you guys." Will and Lyra exchanged a glance. I pushed myself to my feet, but didn't stand completely, only enough to sit on the cot next to Nick's. "Really, guys, it'll be fine. Thank Cressida and Kayla for me, will you?"

Will stared at me with a worried look. I stared back, unmoving.

"Fine." Will looked at Lyra. "Grab Victoria another pair of clothes and help her change, first." His piercing blue eyes came back to me. "Don't think I'm letting you off the hook. The only reason I'm letting you skip dinner today is because I think you need sleep more than you need food." With that, and one last glare, he headed out. Lyra followed with a quick, "I'll be back." and an apologetic look.

I forced my eyes to keep open as I waited, sitting on the edge of the cot. The nice thing about the infirmary was that it was designed like our cabin in that the lights mimicked natural light and could be dimmed or brightened to the level we wanted. Right now, it was a cozy dimness, like a fire during winter, lighting up the living room.

Lyra came back a few moments later with a wet cloth, a dry towel and change of clothes. She sat down next to me on the edge of the cot.

"He's such a hard-ass," I muttered as she helped me out my soiled clothes.

Lyra snickered, pausing and looking at me. "Can you really blame him, though?"

"No, not really," I sighed, taking the cloth and wiping the areas Nick's vomit had missed my clothes before wrapping the large towel around me and carefully standing. I used Lyra to help me balance as I stripped off my pants and changed into the fresh ones she brought me. "But I can still call him a hard-ass." I muttered sitting back down.

Lyra snorted, handing me the shirt. I quickly slipped it on as she grabbed the cloth, my soiled clothes and the towel.

"Sleep well," she murmured.

"Have fun at the campfire," I replied, before lying down on my cot, rolling over and closing my eyes. I was out like a light.

It felt like only seconds later someone was softly calling my name. I still felt utterly exhausted, but my chronic pain had at least lessoned more to the level it had been since this whole ordeal started.

With a groan, I forced my eyes open. I was met with my sibling's faces, leaning over me. They all looked keyed up. Their crowding wasn't helping. I shot up, instantly on high alert. I looked around the room, at Nick, to make sure he was still breathing (he was).

"What is it? What's wrong?" I asked, standing up, forcing my siblings back, patting my sides for my weapons. When they weren't there, I looked around and saw my sword leaning against the side of my cot. I quickly reached for it, but when I turned back toward my siblings, Will was holding his hands up and patting the air in a "settle down" gesture.

"Nothing's wrong," Will assured as I strapped my sword to my waist, anyway. "We thought you'd like to know what happened at the campfire."

I looked at him, sitting back down on my cot. "Why?"

"A quest was issued," Cressida spoke up in an excited whisper, reminding me we were still in the infirmary and Nick was still sleeping behind me.

"Why don't we take this to our cabin," I suggested, standing up again.

As I started to herd them out, I realized Annabeth was standing at the back of the group and I froze, surprised to see her there. She was holding the hand of one of her younger siblings.

"Annabeth," I said, shocked and confused at her presence. My siblings parted so I was able to walk up to her.

Annabeth managed a smile, though she looked particularly exhausted. This was really taking a toll on her. I'm sure not finding Percy today hadn't helped.

"I heard you were the person to come to when someone was having trouble sleeping," she explained before looking down at her sibling.

"Oh," I breathed. For a long moment, I stood staring at her, trying to comprehend what was happening. "Why don't we head into the Apollo cabin? Um…" I looked over at Nick, afraid to leave him alone, even if it was for a short time.

"I'll stay with him," Will said, reading my expression easily. "Besides, this'll give me a good chance to check on his vitals."

I nodded and gave him a small smile of my appreciation before going to the door that led to a corridor that connected our cabin with the infirmary. Annabeth took her younger sibling into her arms and walked alongside me. I looked at them out of the corner of my eyes. I couldn't remember her younger sibling's name for the life of me, but she looked about eight or nine. I shifted my gaze to Annabeth—so much responsibility thrust onto her at such a young age…

Scowling, I faced forward again. Thinking about all this only making me upset. Demigods had such hard lives.

"I didn't realize you started helping out on extraction missions," Annabeth commented quietly, glancing over at me as we walked.

I thought about my punishment. Mr. D's words of warning. "Chiron thought it'd be more productive for me." I lied smoothly. I could feel the stares of my siblings piercing my back. I was almost tempted to spin around and yell at them for—what felt like to me—making it so obvious I was lying. "I…I don't think I'll be going out into the real world any time soon, so that was the next best thing." I shrugged.

"Victoria," Annabeth said.

"Yes?" I asked, confused as to why she said my name even though she already had my attention.

"You go by Victoria now," Annabeth elaborated and I realized she'd been saying my name as if testing it out, testing how it sounded.

I looked away. "Yes, well I…" I trailed off not sure _what_ to say. Luke was such a touchy subject. I took a deep breath, my hands balling into fists momentarily. "After everything that happened I just decided I didn't want to use my nickname anymore." My voice was hoarser than I wanted it to sound and I cursed myself silently for that.

We got to the door at the other end of the hallway and I quickly opened it for Annabeth and the rest of my siblings.

"Whatever happened at the campfire will have to wait," I told my siblings as I shut the door. Annabeth set her half-sister down again and I went over to her, kneeling so I was at her level.

"Hey, sweetie," I said softly with a smile. "I'm not good with names, can you remind me of yours?"

The girl sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Angelica," she said in a small voice.

"Angelica," I repeated. "That's a very pretty name. I hear you're having trouble sleeping?"

"Jason is…" Angelica trailed off, looking up to Annabeth, fear in her eyes. Annabeth quickly kneeled down, too, squeezing her hand.

"It's okay," she assured, nodding. "You can tell To—Victoria."

Angelica turned back to me. "Jason is kind of scary," she whispered. "He blew up the campfire. And all this stuff about the prophecy…" Her lower lip trembled and more tears formed in her eyes. "I don't want to have bad dreams tonight."

"Oh, sweetheart, it's okay." I pulled her into a hug, stroking her hair. I looked at Annabeth questioningly. "Captain America blew up the campfire?" I asked softly.

Annabeth nodded and whispered, "To smithereens," just as I heard Angelica giggle. I pulled back and sat back on my legs, gently wiping away her tears.

"What's funny?" I asked.

"Captain America?" she asked with another giggle. I guess I hadn't been quiet enough.

I laughed, too. "Like I said, I'm pretty terrible with names." I looked back at Annabeth. "Usually I sing a song to them. You don't mind if I sing here, do you?"

Annabeth shook her head, shifting so she was sitting crossed-legged. "Come here, Angelica." She held out her arms and gently pulled Angelica into her lap. I shifted into a more comfortable sitting position.

"Is there a certain song you'd like me to sing?" I asked Angelica. She thought about it and then smiled.

"'Part of Your World'? From the _Little Mermaid_?" she asked.

I smiled and nodded. "I know that one." I took a deep breath, feeling self-conscious singing in front of Annabeth. It wasn't like she hadn't heard me sing before, but it felt more personal now that I was sitting right in front of her. As usual, after singing a few of the lines, I fell into a trance, becoming more and more comfortable as the song continued.

Angelica was completely out by the end of the song and Annabeth looked stunned.

"Works like a charm," I whispered. I couldn't help but smile.

"I'll say," Annabeth mumbled, carefully standing up with Angelica in her arms. "Thank you." she whispered.

"It's no problem at all." I replied. "Will I see you tomorrow?" I started walking her to the door.

"Oh, no, actually I was planning on going out and looking for Percy, myself. See if I can gather any clues to where he is…" she trailed off her, voice growing thick as I opened the door for her.

"I understand." I told her as she stepped out onto the porch and turned back to face me. "Good luck."

She took a steadying breath. "Thank you. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

I closed the door and turned around, leaning against it, sighing heavily. Straightening up, I faced my siblings who seemed to be waiting in anticipation. The door to the infirmary opened up and Will stepped through.

"Nick seems to be doing well," he reported. "Are you going to…?"

"Yeah, I can sleep in there tonight and make sure nothing pops up." I told him. He didn't look convinced, but didn't argue with me on it, which I thought was a little strange. Maybe he was coming to figure out I didn't need him worrying over me all the time. Or he didn't have to argue with me on things all the time. Those two things were as equally as stressful and draining in their own right.

"All right, so, what about the campfire?" I asked, stepping into the cabin more. "Besides Captain America blowing it up?"

"The Oracle issued a quest," Reed reiterated excitedly. I was annoyed he had so much energy this late. "Hera's been captured and now the newbies are going to save her. They only have three days."

"The who-now?" I asked.

"The three demigods Annabeth and Butch brought back today," Kayla explained. "One of them you keep calling Captain America."

"You woke me up to tell me that?" I deadpanned. They seemed kind of stunned at me lackluster reaction and I almost felt guilty.

I suppose I should've felt more impressed or more exited, or more worried that three new demigods were just issued a pretty big quest—to save the Queen of the Heavens—but I'd been through so much these past few years (and just these past few months, even) that I couldn't find it in me. Anything that involved the gods put me off, so that wasn't helping either.

I shifted uncomfortably and asked, "So were Captain America and what's-her-name claimed, then, too?" I questioned, hoping to salvage the situation a bit.

"You mean Jason and Piper?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I had a long day, okay, forgive me if I don't remember their names." I muttered.

"Well Piper was claimed by Aphrodite." Austin said. I snorted. Even better. Of course two out of the three demigods would belong to two of the cabins that hated me most at this camp. "And Jason…" Austin trailed off, seemingly too excited or shocked to say it.

"Zeus!" Kayla spilled. "He's the son of Zeus. Can you believe it?"

For some reason, from the small glimpse I'd gotten of Jason, that explained a lot of about him. It also explained how he'd blown up the campfire. Did that mean it wouldn't work anymore? It was magical, though, so maybe Chiron or someone from the Hecate cabin would be able to recreate it again.

"They're leaving on the quest tomorrow," Will finished, a little less excited than our other siblings.

"Is that really the only reason you guys woke me up?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Your enthusiasm is overwhelming," Will responded in the same tone as I was using. " _And_ that's not the _only_ reason we woke you up. Annabeth was here and, you know, telling you about the quest was just an…additional thing."

I gave him a look, telling him I knew he was searching and he rolled his eyes at me.

"This is good news, don't you think?" Reed asked.

"Angelica mentioned a prophecy. I'm guessing not the prophecy she issued for the quest?" I asked.

"Yeah, the Second Great Prophecy," Austin answered. "Rachel says it's started. How'd you know?"

I looked around the cabin pensively. "Too many things happening at once," I muttered, thinking about all the monsters someone was sending after me. Echidna's talk about "her" rising. Percy's disappearance. And then those three showing up.

"Victoria," Will's voice called me back to my siblings and I looked at him. "If there's something you want to talk about—"

"I'll tell you all later," I waved my hand flippantly, not meeting any of their eyes.

I heard them let out a collective sigh of annoyance and I lifted my gaze to glare at them.

"I promised TJ I'd tell him what's going on, so I'll tell you, too, but I don't like repeating myself, so I'll tell you all, just not now." I explained. They all looked at me, not quiet believing it. "I swear on the Styx, okay?"

"Will you at least tell us what happened on the mission?" Cressida asked. "Before lights out?"

I contemplated if I had enough energy before agreeing. I shuffled over to my bed and sat down, my siblings getting comfortable in their own beds before I recapped what happened. I had to remind them a few times that I'd sworn on the Styx to tell them later when I mentioned everything the sphinx had said. They'd already known about my nickname, unlike TJ, because I'd told them what happened at Dan's performance, but the other things the sphinx had talked about concerned them. They, too, wondered why it had mentioned the prophecy. And on the night that Rachel had confirmed it was starting, no less.

Despite these worries and concerns, it was lights out. Reluctantly, everyone started to get ready for bed.

Kayla escorted me back into the infirmary and made sure I made it back to my cot without taking a spill before going back to the cabin.

I was so exhausted I wasn't even worried about my dream. It wasn't until I felt a familiar pair of strong, warm arms warp around my waist, pulling me into a familiar, strong, warm chest did I remember why I needed to be worried.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a little shorter than my usual, but I was kind of excited to get this to you. Poor, Tori, though, getting thrown-up on in the same day by the same person…(admittedly, I think it's kind of hilarious. I have no shame.)
> 
> I'm sorry I couldn't post last weekend, I hit another writer's block…kinda. It was mostly life that got in the way that prevented me from being able to write/finish/find the energy and motivation to write.
> 
> Hopefully things are going to get better now. I'm feeling a bit better than I was when I posted my last chapter. I'm also really excited to get into the few months after the Other Trio gets back and Leo builds the _Argo II_. I've definitely got some twists and turns coming your way, so be prepared!
> 
> I want to say I'll get the next chapter to you this weekend because I have most of it written already (which is definitely true), but it seems like whenever I say that I jinx myself, even if I add on "no guarantees." So, yeah…idk, those are the facts. I have most of it written, I'm just unsure if life will interfere again. Guess we'll just wait and see! ¯\\_( ツ )_/¯
> 
> Title taken from "Part of Your World" from _The Little Mermaid_. Because I'm so original.
> 
> As always, hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	16. And Hear that Breaking Sound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **TRIGGER WARNING:** allusion to suicide.

"Luke," I breathed, my voice trembling along with my lower lip. I felt tears burn my eyes and took a shaky breath, swallowing hard, trying to keep them back.

"Hmm," he hummed, tightening his arms around my waist, pressing his lips to the hollow of my ear. I tensed and closed my eyes for a moment before turning around to face him. I kept my eyes on his chest, though, unable to meet his gaze. I reached up, putting a hand on his neck, the other on his chest.

He moved, as if to lean down to kiss me, but just so. I responded, pushing up onto my tip-toes and inclining my head, sliding my eyes closed. My hand at his neck moved into his hair while the other hand gripped his shirt.

Our kiss didn't last long. Luke pulled away suddenly, gasping in pain. He started to fall, and I moved my hand from his hair to around him, pressing against his back, trying to keep him upright.

For the first time since the beginning of this dream, I met his eyes. I felt my heart stutter.

_So real._

This felt so real.

Despite my best efforts, Luke was taller and heavier than me, all I did was prevent him from falling hard onto the floor. I fell to my knees next at his side. There were no visible wounds, but I didn't need to see any to know…

"Luke," I gasped, my tears returning, falling freely now. I leaned over him, gripping his hand with one of mine, the other going to caress his face. His eyes were wide, stricken, scared. He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but only sounds of choked gasps and pain came through.

His death was always quick during these dreams.

Even so, my mind always flashed back to that long night on Olympus, in the ruined throne room.

Instead of becoming desensitized, it was rather like someone was digging their fingers in my open wound, every day, never allowing it to close, let alone heal. The pain I felt was as fresh and new as the day it'd actually happened. My dreams only kept that memory in the forefront of my mind.

"Please," I sobbed, leaning over Luke's body, gripping the front of his shirt. "Please, stop. Please…stop—just…stop. _Please._ " When no answer came, I sat back, throwing my head to the sky, "Tell me!" I shrieked. "What do you want? What do you want from me? _Answer me!_ "

I had a tendency to toss and turn during these dreams. Only, because I wasn't on my bed, which was wider than the cots in the infirmary, I rolled right off the side and hit the wooden floor hard. Just as well, though, because it woke me up immediately. The first thing I did was sit up and look over the top of my cot to Nick's to make sure I hadn't woken him. He didn't even stir. I let out a small breath, slumping at first and then melting until I was lying on the floor.

It took a moment to keep the static from crowding my mind. As usual, I had to use at least half my mental capacity to concentrate on anything other than my sudden pain upon waking. Unfortunately for me, the first thing that my brain decided to think about was the dream I'd just woken from.

I felt my heart flutter in my chest as I thought about it. I brought my hands up to cover my face, trying not to fall into a panic attack, afraid that'd definitely wake Nick up. I couldn't feel impending sunrise, which meant that I'd woken way earlier than I usually did. Which was becoming a thing—waking up earlier and earlier, but this had to be the earliest.

They had shifted from him just being there—which had been hard enough—but now he was dying, right before my eyes, and there was nothing I could do about it. Ever. When I'd said my dreams had been getting worse, ever since Percy's disappearance, that's what I'd meant.

I quickly moved one of my hands to cover my mouth, clamping down on the sobs that threatened to escape. Tears filled my eyes and streamed down the side of my face, into my hair, splayed out on the floor.

The pressure against my lips only reminded me of the kiss. Not a come-close-to-kissing, not an almost-kiss, but an actual kiss. This had been going on for a few days, now, though. As my dreams grew shorter and shorter, Luke had come closer and closer to kissing me. The night he'd succeeded had been hard. But after that, I didn't even try to fight it because I knew that his death was coming—looming over me. Could it really be him, though? Was he really there? How could he be if he was dying every night?

However…

I wasn't crying because he'd kissed me.

I wasn't just crying because he had started dying in my dreams, though it was a big part of why.

I was crying because I hadn't wanted to wake up.

Ever since I had finally let him kiss me, I found myself wishing I hadn't woken up. The wish grew stronger as the days passed.

I launched to my feet, feeling myself breaking, and quickly exited the infirmary, out into the green. I released my hand from my mouth, gasping for breath, sobs crowding in the back of my throat, but I couldn't, not yet, _not here_.

I looked around desperately, trying to find somewhere I could sob and scream as loud as I wanted without any worry that someone would hear me. My eyes caught the torchlight of the green Greek fire out in front of the Hades cabin. It was my best bet. At the very least, it was close. I could just use a pillow if I needed.

With that decided, I sprinted to the cabin, stumbling in and slamming the door. I managed to grab one of the pillows from the coffin-like beds and shove it against my face before sinking to the floor and devolving into screams that slowly devolved into gut-wrenching sobs.

I think I may have fallen asleep there, because the next thing I remember is starting awake from yet another dream. At first, I panicked because I was in an unfamiliar place without a weapon, but then I remembered what'd happened and managed to calm my brain down. My heart was still pounding and I wouldn't feel comfortable without my sword (at least) at my side, but my brain wasn't about to fly into a panic.

Exhausted, the prickles still at a level that was barely tolerable, I pushed myself to my feet. I haphazardly threw the pillow back onto the bunk before stumbling out of the cabin. This time, I could feel dawn just below the horizon, about to break.

I staggered back to my cabin, trying my hardest to go in quietly and pull on some clothes. I went into the bathroom afterward to splash some cold water on my face and take ibuprofen. The cold water only helped a little.

As I made my way through the corridor to the infirmary to check on Nick and grab my sword, I raked my hands through my hair before putting it into my usual diagonal Dutch braid. I strapped my sword to my waist when I got in and then leaned over Nick, listening to his breathing. Still wheezy, but not as severe as last night. That was good. I carefully put the back of my hand on his forehead. His fever had also subsided somewhat. Even better.

He should be okay for a few minutes while I went up to visit Peleus. I'd check on him before I went to clean the bathrooms again, just to make sure. I hated to wake any of my siblings at this hour. With everything going on, including healing sick and wounded campers throughout the day and then leading the sing-along, added to their daily activities, they had to be exhausted too.

I did one more once-over of Nick before exiting the infirmary and heading over to greet Peleus. He still seemed a bit down, but less so now that whatever he'd been feeling had happened. I petted his nose as he huffed smoke into the crisp air and rumbled contentedly. I couldn't help but smile a bit. He reminded me so much of a cat or dog. It was amusing and very cute. Even comforting in some ways.

He laid his head down and I sat down next to him, leaning against his neck, his warmth always helping chase away the pin-pricks for as long as I sat with him. Together we watched the sun rise in the distance as I hummed a soft tune.

Once the sun had fully risen, I slowly stood and stretched, bidding goodbye to Peleus before quickly running back to the infirmary and checking up on Nick. Still breathing, still asleep. I put in my earphones, then, and headed off to clean the bathrooms. Unfortunately for me, music sometimes couldn't drown out the sound of my own thoughts, and all my thoughts could focus on was my dream. _All_ my dreams that involved Luke.

My heart ached just thinking about Luke, but having him _alive_ and with me? And now, him dying yet again, while I watched on helplessly? It was almost too much. I felt tears pool in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I tried to think of something else, but what else _was_ there to think about?

Percy's disappearance?

The Aphrodite and Hephaestus cabin's hatred for me?

The fact that some big-bad was sending monsters to kill me?

The weird nickname they had given me?

Why the sphinx had asked me to recite the Second Great Prophecy?

Oh, or maybe about how the Queen of the Heavens had been _captured_.

I didn't want to think about _any_ of it!

Even so, my mind always went back to my dream. My lips tingled from the ghost of the memory of Luke's touch. But the hole in my chest expanded along with it, making my demons rattle in their cage, roaring, wanting to be set free.

I wasn't sure how much more of this I could handle. I could barely step outside the border without my life being in mortal danger, or putting other people's lives in danger. Some big, evil force wanted me dead for something. The Second Great Prophecy had started, and I had a bad feeling it had something to do with the fact that something bigger and nastier than the biggest and nastiest monsters I'd encountered was targeting me.

Why, though, I couldn't fathom.

But that wasn't really the point, was it? I was more worried about the lack of sleep I was getting. I was just barely able to function. My chronic pain wasn't making _any_ of this any easier. Using half of already drained mental energy to even try to function normally was taking its toll and breakfast hadn't even arrived yet!

Even so, I was more worried that whenever Luke was kissing me, I wished to stay in that dream-world with him forever. In the Hades cabin, when I had gotten over my screaming and crying and started to slip into unconsciousness again, I had wished to fall asleep and never wake up.

And I was _scared_ that I felt that way. I didn't know what to do about it.

When I'd finished up the bathrooms, I headed back into the infirmary to check on Nick. As I stepped in, he was sitting back down on his cot.

"Oh, you're up," I said as I went over to his cot. He froze, his eyes flickering up to me as I came over, leaning toward him so I could more easily put the back of my hand against his forehead. "Still a little warm." I murmured, more to myself. I listened and his breathing sounded the same as when I'd checked on him before cleaning the bathrooms. I finally pulled away and sat on the cot opposite his. "Would you like me to get some fresh water?" I asked, realizing his face was now extremely red and he was staring at me, looking stricken. "Maybe you should lie down again."

I stood to get him a fresh glass of water when the conch horn sounded in the distance. There was screaming outside. I instantly went on high alert. I glanced back at Nick as I unsheathed my sword.

"Stay here," I instructed, hoping he'd actually listen to me this time, before exiting the infirmary. I didn't make it far into the green though, because as I was exiting a huge, bronze dragon landed in the middle. Around me campers had gathered, half in pajamas, half in armor, weapons drawn.

A voice from atop the dragon yelled, "It's cool! Don't shoot!" I looked up and saw that the fidgety boy, the Hephaestus kid, was sitting on top of the dragon with a wicked grin on his face. He also looked a little wired, like he'd been up all night and was running on pure adrenaline or caffeine, or both.

I didn't quite trust his judgment, but the campers seemed to, backing away, surrounding the dragon. Weapons were slowly, reluctantly lowered, but kept in hands at the ready.

I gripped the hilt of my sword, trying to get my mind out of life-or-death mode. I examined the dragon, instead, in all its glittering bronze. It almost reminded me of a Van Gogh painting, honestly, with all the different shades of bronze and copper that it was made from. As much as I hated to admit it, it was a thing a beauty—very well crafted.

It had to be at least 60 feet long, with sharp, steel talons and what looked to be drill-bit teeth. Its eyes were glowing, a sinister ruby red. I didn't remember hearing about it having wings, however, so that was new. They looked like bat wings, and every time they moved, it sounded like a slot-machine that'd just won the lottery going off.

Flapping its wings, the dragon reared its head, shooting a column of fire into the sky. I could feel the heat from the flames from here. Some of the campers most nearly jumped into action—though I wasn't sure what any of our weapons was going to do against a giant _metal_ , fire-breathing dragon.

The fidgety kid slid off the back of the dragon, not batting an eye at its behavior. He held up his hands in a "surrender" gesture, with that grin still on his face. I disliked him even more now and couldn't wait until he left.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" he yelled.

That was it for me. Rolling my eyes, I sheathed my sword and headed back into the infirmary. Now that the danger had passed, it wasn't necessary to stay. I didn't care about their quest. I couldn't care less about Hera, or any of the gods for that matter, so I didn't care to stay and listen.

Nick was still sitting where I'd left him (for once). He watched me as I approached, sitting down on the edge of the cot next to his.

"What's going on?" he asked. His voice sounded better, too, though still like he had a slight sore throat.

I shrugged. "Just a giant bronze dragon." I muttered, admittedly sulking. Only because he was a child of Hephaestus. My relationship with that cabin just wasn't good. At all. So anytime they were mentioned, I got into a bad mood.

"Oh, okay."

I glanced up at Nick, trying to see if he was actually being nonchalant or if it was an act. As far as I could tell, it wasn't an act.

"You seem to be taking this rather well," I commented, cocking my head to the side, keeping my eyes on him. His eyes flickered over to me, but quickly flickered away as his face turned red. I frowned, wondering why that always happened.

"Yeah, well…I guess you could say I've seen my fair share of things," he finally said in a nervous tone.

"Like what?"

"…let's just say, I already know that my mom is Hecate. She tried to recruit me for some…thing." Nick fell into a slight coughing fit and I pushed the glass of water toward him. He took it and sipped from it before continuing, his voice a little rougher now. "I'm not sure what, but a few years ago, she came to me in a dream, told me that I was a demigod and then tried to recruit me for whatever she wanted to recruit me for." He shook his head, like he still couldn't fathom what she'd asked before going into another coughing fit and drinking more water. "I learned to use my magic skills after that, but never felt the need to join whatever cause she wanted me to."

"Is that how you were blowing away the Mist in the school?' I asked, it all coming together.

Nick met my gaze for more than a millisecond and smiled. "Yeah, that's right."

"So, what will you do now?" I asked, leaning back on the cot, using my hands to hold me up.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you already know you're a demigod, and you seem to be all right dealing with monsters…after you've recovered, I don't see any need for you to stay and train." I explained. "I mean, besides the fact that you may want to learn to use a weapon. But you seem to have your magic under control."

"I…I have to think about it," Nick mumbled, looking down at the glass he was still holding in his hands, but resting in his lap. His eyes flickered up to me occasionally. I wondered what that was all about. "I'm only taking online classes, so if there's a computer here somewhere, I should be fine staying. A weapon might be useful to learn how to use."

"Family?" I questioned.

Nick's head snapped up. "What?"

"Your family? Will they notice if you kind of disappear?"

"I can always make up a story," he muttered, looking down again. "As long as I stay in my classes…"

Another conch horn blew in the distance and Nick's head jerked up again.

"Oh, is something else wrong?"

"No, that's breakfast." I stood and so did Nick, but I went up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and pushing back down onto the cot. I heard his breath catch and his face turned red again. The glass still in his hands slipped from his glass. Thankfully it didn't break when it hit the ground.

I quickly bent over to pick it up and set it on the bedside table. I sighed at the puddle of water on the floor now.

I looked back up at Nick who was looking at me with wide, scared eyes. "You're staying here. I'll bring you something."

"I can clean—" he started.

"I'll get it when I get back."

His voice was small as he said, "Okay." He put his legs back up onto the cot and leaned back, avoiding my gaze. For some reason it suddenly occurred to me all those times his face had turned red meant he may be blushing (instead of having a reaction to something else). Why, I couldn't understand, though.

"You don't have any food allergies or restrictions?" I asked. Nick merely shook his head, keeping his gaze on his feet. "Okay, I'll be right back," I told him before heading out and to the dining pavilion, meeting my siblings along the way.

I loaded up a plat with eggs, bacon, sausage, and two small pancakes.

"Is that for you?" Kayla asked, incredulously.

"No," I replied, snatching up a poppy-seed muffin. I tossed it into the air slightly and caught it. " _This_ "—I brandished the muffin—"is for me." With that I stood and started to exit the pavilion.

"That's not breakfast!" Will called after me.

"Sure it is!" I called back, not even glancing behind me as I left and made my way back to the infirmary. I set the plate and muffin on the bedside table, the plate next to the empty glass of water before grabbing a washcloth from one of the closets in our infirmary and mopping up the water on the floor. I set the soaked cloth on the floor next to my feet so I wouldn't forget it before grabbing up my muffin. I felt Nick's eyes on me the whole time.

"That's all you're going to have?" Nick asked as I unwrapped part of my muffin, broke off a chunk and popped it into my mouth.

I shrugged. "Not very hungry." Truth be told, I wasn't hungry at all—exhaustion via sleep deprivation would do that to you—but I knew if I hadn't taken something, my siblings would've hounded after me. Nick reluctantly took the plate and set it in his lap before digging in. Half-way through my muffin, I went to get him more water and take more ibuprofen. The day had barely begun and I was already having trouble concentrating.

This was going to be a long day.

As I picked at my muffin, I felt Nick's piercing eyes on me. He was like those dogs that stared at their owners and as soon as their owner looked up, they looked away. Whenever I looked up at him, he leaned over his food, staring so hard at it, I thought one of his eyes might pop out. Not to mention the fact that he gripped his fork instead of using it to help him eat.

I looked back at my muffin, pulling off another chunk and putting it in my mouth before saying, "You have a question for me." I waited for him to respond, but when he didn't, I finally looked up and for once, he didn't look away. Though his face was burning and his eyes were wide. "What is it?"

"It's nothing," Nick mumbled, looking back down at his food, but his hand didn't go to pick up his fork.

"Nick," I said in a hard voice. He reluctantly looked over at me. I saw his throat move as he swallowed. "What is it?" I asked again. To give him credit, he kept my gaze as silence slowly enveloped the room.

"You…you kept murmuring in your sleep," he finally mumbled, looking back down at his plate, picking up his fork and pushing some of the food that was left around. "Asking…" he whispered.

Ice water filled my veins. I felt my heart thump in my chest once before speeding out of control. I tried not to fist my hands and smash my muffin.

"Asking… _what_?" I pressed in a low voice.

Nick was quiet for a long time, pausing in his pushing. Then, slowly, he lowered his fork. "Who is he?" I waited. Nick looked up, over at me. "Luke?"

I felt my whole world turn violently, knocking me off my feet, leaving me breathless for a long moment. I tried to compose myself as quickly as possible, but with my dream still in the forefront of my mind, it was hard. It also conjured up the night he actually had died…

I closed my eyes and let out a slow breath.

"You'll be here, at camp, yes?" I asked, opening my eyes again. Nick met my gaze. His face wasn't as red anymore, though a blush still stained his cheeks.

Realizing I'd asked him a question, he nodded and mumbled, "Probably, yes." in a small voice.

I looked away, unable to look him in the eye and talk about Luke, afraid I'd give too much away. "Someone important." I murmured.

"…like a best friend?" Nick prompted carefully. I felt a prick of annoyance. If he knew he was treading on thin ice, why even risk it?

I looked back at him, freezing my eyes over, my voice mimicking the coldness of my eyes. "If you're staying here, you'll probably hear things—these people can't live without gossip. Go ask them if you really want to know."

Nick frowned, eyebrows furrowing. "Why not just tell me now?"

"Because it's none of your damn business and I don't have to divulge my whole life story to a total stranger." I snapped. Nick's face turned beet red again, his eyes widening. I saw the shame and guilt on his face, but I was peeved. I snatched up the dirty washcloth, stood and started speaking again, not giving him time to speak. "Look, I have to go prepare for a class. One of my siblings or I will be in again to check up on you. You should finish your breakfast and drink more water. Maybe sleep more, since you still sound sick."

With that, I exited through the door that led to the corridor, taking my half-eaten muffin and the washcloth with me. Though, I wasn't sure if my muffin was ever going to be finished.

* * *

My stomach twisted into knots, my heart pounded in my chest, and my breathing was ragged. My hands were shaking, but I couldn't tell if it was because of my sleep deprivation, my starving body, or what I was planning to do.

It was just before dinner. Everyone were heading off to their activities, or going off to do what they wanted during free time, too busy to notice a lone demigod who looked like they were up to something going over to the Hypnos cabin. I wrung my hands together and stopped in front of their cabin, glancing around nervously. No one was paying any attention. I turned back to the cabin.

It wasn't anything special. Well, didn't look like anything special. Kind of like the Hermes cabin looked like your generic log cabin, the Hypnos cabin didn't stand out. Its walls were made of mud and had a rush roof. A wreath of red poppies hung above the door, the bright color reminding me of the biblical story of Moses, when God (with a capital G) told him to paint above their doors with lamb's blood so he knew not to enter that house.

I blinked trying to remember where I'd learned that from. Possibly from a movie. My mom had never been religious, probably because she knew that who she'd had me and Dan with was Apollo, so we never read about those things or went to church. A memory did tickle the back of my mind of a movie I'd watched so long ago….

Anyway, taking a deep breath and swallowing hard, I took a step toward the door.

Only to be interrupted by a familiar voice calling my name. I jumped and stepped away from the cabin, looking to my right to see Nick running toward me. It'd been a whole day since his coming here. He'd taken that day to rest and mostly sleep. His wheezing had become basically nonexistent and he was no longer coughing. Seemingly, he'd made a full recovery. Of course, he still had asthma, but he'd recovered from his symptoms at least.

I was a little annoyed at him still because of yesterday morning's sudden inquisition. I couldn't really blame him because he'd been resting and recuperating for the rest of the day, and when I brought him his meals and checked up on him I never gave him a chance to speak. He'd been so busy today, trying to work things out, I hadn't seen him until now.

And, to be fair, I had asked why he'd been staring at me. Still…I couldn't help my feelings. Right now also wasn't a good time. Not for the decision I was about to make.

"Nick," I greeted formally as he came up to me.

"Hey, I…I just wanted to apologize for yesterday," he stuttered. "I feel bad about that. You're absolutely right. I was in the wrong, prying into your life like that."

I nodded. "Thanks, I…I—" I broke off and paused not sure what I'd been planning on saying. "Thanks."

Nick stood there for another awkward, silent second, a blush creeping onto his face. "I, uh…also wanted to, um, th-thank you for…for, you know, taking care of me yesterday," he mumbled.

I shrugged. "The way I see it, you were my responsibility. I put you in more danger than you should've been in and you had to face consequences that could've otherwise been avoided."

Nick chuckled. "You know, it wouldn't hurt to just say, 'you're welcome,' you know?"

I blinked, surprised at his comment before narrowing my eyes and looking away, confused. "…you're welcome?"

Nick smiled. "I…I have a class I should get to. So I'll-I'll see you around?"

I nodded and forced a smile. "Sure. See you later."

Nick smiled again and nodded before turning and jogging off. I watched him go almost feeling bad I had lied to him. He would be staying at camp to train. I wasn't sure for how long. Chiron had worked out a schedule with him that allowed him to use the one computer in this camp for his online courses. In the meantime, if he wasn't doing homework or on the computer for class, he would train. He'd also used the phone to give his dad a call, check in, reassure, stuff like that. I only knew this because Cressida and Kayla had given me the details at lunch today.

Once he'd disappeared, I turned back to the Hypnos cabin. Taking a deep breath, I slipped inside before anyone else could stop me. My heart rate picked up and my hands started shaking again.

I'd never been in the Hypnos cabin before. I'd seen enough campers fall asleep just passing the place, and heard stories about campers falling asleep in here, I steered clear from it. I didn't need my nightmares any more than I already had them. I think the only reason the sleeping spell wasn't working on me right now, despite how tired I was, was because I was so riled up, so _desperate_.

I did a quick sweep, making sure anyone who was in here was asleep and also just out of curiosity since I'd never been in here before.

It smelled like fresh laundry, and was quiet inside, the only sounds the crackling fire, in the fireplace straight across from the door, the snoring of the three Hypnos children, and the soft violin music that reminded me of Dan. There were plenty of beds for anyone to come in and take a nap in. Or possibly sleep forever. Three of them were occupied by the three demigods. But the beds weren't what I was looking for. It didn't matter how comfortable the bed was, I was always going to have nightmares. Despite some part of me wishing I could sleep forever and be with Luke in my dreams (without him dying), I felt like I was losing. And someone else was winning.

My eyes went back to the fireplace. Above the mantel of the fireplace hung what I'd come here for—Hypnos's symbol, the branch from a poplar tree dripping with the water from the Lethe into small tin bowls.

My heartrate picked up again, for the lull of the cabin had managed to settle it a bit, as I walked forward. My breathing was shallow and ragged, and I was almost afraid it was going to wake up one of the kids, but they didn't even stir. My hands started shaking even more as I stopped in front of the fireplace, looking up at the poplar branch, watching as the water pooled at certain points on the branch before becoming too heavy and dropping into the tin bowls. The heat of the fire was comforting.

As I stared at the dripping branch almost in a trance, I felt my body relax. My beating heart calmed, my breathing became steadier, and my hands stopped shaking. Even my prickles seemed to dim to a point I didn't have to use mental energy to ignore them. Beneath all this, there was still a thrum of panic and fear about what I was doing.

It was a serious choice. It was also something I had thought about every waking moment since Luke had started kissing me in my dreams because the dreams were becoming too much for me to handle. The ache becoming worse and worse. I could barely function anymore. The sleep deprivation was making it hard to concentrate, think, eat, and that was on top of pushing down the noise of my chronic pain. I just couldn't live like this anymore.

I took a deep breath before bringing my hand up toward the branch. I held it out, palm up with outstretched fingers and paused a hair's breadth away from the drop as it fell. This next one…the next one was going to be mine.

I watched it pool at the end of the branch and just before it got too heavy I started moving my hand underneath. Only, before I could move any farther someone grabbed my wrist. I gasped as the drop fell into the tin bowl, the sound of it hitting the surface of the water louder than everything in the room.

My heart jumped in my chest, and I looked over to see who it was. I was surprised to see Clovis, the head counselor for the Hypnos cabin, his expression solemn. He had a sort of triangular facial structure, with a tuft of blond hair. His body was stocky, but his arms were the complete opposite, reminding me of the shaft of an arrow—long and thin. Despite his arms being as they were, his grip on my wrist was firm.

I blinked rapidly, my chest heaving as I tried to form words. When had he gotten up? How had he even known I was here? Before I could voice any of my questions or even comprehend what had happened, I felt my eyelids drooping.

"No," I whimpered, panic engulfing me for a moment. "Don't…" But it was already too late. My knees buckled and I fell into Clovis, my world going dark.

When I woke up again I was sitting in a rocking chair near the fireplace. I blinked to clear my eyes and my fuzzy thoughts. The first time in a long time I'd slept without a nightmare. It was such a relief I almost started crying.

I looked at the fireplace and then up at the mantle, at the poplar tree branch, the tin bowls that held water from the river Lethe. It all came rushing back to me. I sat up straighter and started to look around the cabin. I didn't get far, though, because my eyes stopped on Will who was sitting across from me in another rocking chair. He was leaning toward me, elbows resting on his knees. His blue eyes were swirling with concern, his golden eyebrows mashed together with worry, mouth in a deep frown.

I tore my gaze away from him, not wanting to have this conversation just yet, and looked around the rest of the cabin. Clovis's cabinmates were still snoring away, but, to my surprise, Clovis was still awake, sitting on the edge of his bed. He was looking at me with those solemn, if not a little sleepy, eyes.

I swallowed hard and slowly turned to face Will again. This was pretty serious if Clovis was staying awake. I mean, I knew it was going to have serious consequences, but I was prepared to not remember anything, not have to actually face those consequences.

"Talk to me, Tori," Will said, breaking the silence, sitting straighter in his chair. "You know I'm here for you."

I opened my eyes and blinked away the tears that I felt form, but when I went to speak I fell apart. I couldn't hold back the desperate, guttural sobs, my stream of tears. I covered my face with my hands. And for a while, I got lost. I got lost in my pain, drowning in my tears, the only sounds that reached my ears were my own sobs. I remember Will reaching forward and pulling away one of my hands from my face, gripping it in his, acting as my anchor.

Slowly, slowly, I started to calm down. Once I'd finally let out the pent up frustration and stress from lack of sleep and nightmares, my sobs died down. My tears stopped coming so fast. I settled back into my body. Will was there when I came back. He gave my hand another squeeze before standing and grabbing one of the pillows from the many beds.

I sat back in the rocking chair, holding the pillow tightly to my chest, my stomach churning, shaking hands digging into the pillow.

Will sat back down, watching me with worried eyes. I kept my gaze on the fire. I wasn't sure if Clovis would still be awake, but I wasn't sure how long I'd been out of it, either.

Finally, I worked up the nerve to look him in the eyes. "Gather our siblings, and TJ," I whispered hoarsely, "there's…something I need to tell you."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys…so it's been a rough couple of days since, you know, the election.
> 
> As I've stated before I'm a smol, fragile bean who craves validation and positive reinforcement, and, boy howdy, I could use some right about now. So a review would just be so nice to get, and absolutely make my day. I'm _always_ ecstatic when I get a review, of course, and they _always_ cheer me up and make me smile, but right now it would make the world just a little bit brighter for me, you know?
> 
> I'm sorry I couldn't get this to you sooner, I didn't quite know how I wanted to approach the beginning of the chapter. And I was too worried and scared on Monday and Tuesday I couldn't write at all. I'm not sure I quite like it, but I don't know that it's going to get any better. It's really more of a stepping stone for me to move onto bigger plot points.
> 
> I hope any of my USA readers are doing okay (and by okay, I mean I hope you're safe, btw) and if you want to chat, feel free to message me. Even if you don't live in the USA, feel free to message me and/or leave a comment. I always reply to comments ^_^
> 
> Title taken from "My Eyes" from _Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog_.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	17. And I Feel Fine

We were all gathered in the Apollo cabin: me, my siblings, and TJ. The satyr was shifting on his hooves, looking uncomfortable. I wasn't sure if it was because he was nervous about what I was going to tell them or if he was feeling out of place among my siblings and me. He didn't take the seat offered to him and instead chose to stay standing.

My siblings were sitting on their respective beds, with me sitting on mine. I wasn't quite sure where to start because it seemed like just listing out my problems would cause more confusion if I didn't give them context.

Taking a deep breath, I started from the beginning, when the monsters started targeting me and talking about a reward. From there I told them what Echidna had told me that night I'd helped TJ extract Ivan (also the night I'd gotten chronic pain from that stupid snakebite). Telling them about my dreams was harder. Not just because recounting all these experiences was stressing me out, which was making my chronic pain flare, but also because it was always hard for me to talk about Luke to others. Even my siblings or a friend.

There was no doubt left in anyone's mind at this camp that I loved Luke so much I was willing to do almost anything for him. It was never that judgement that scared me. It was the judgement that they would make afterward: of a love so pure it could move time and space or a love so toxic it could turn the world to ash.

Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic here, but it was all about how people saw my love for Luke rather than my actual love for him that always made me feel self-conscious. It was because nearly everyone at camp saw it as something dangerous, as _me_ as dangerous and selfish.

And maybe I was.

I left out my wishes to sleep forever. In fact, I left out what had led me to the decision to finally tell them what was going on. What happened today was between me and Will until I decided (or not) to tell the rest of our siblings. I was grateful that Will was going to keep that part private.

"A reward?" Cressida echoed when I'd finished.

"Yeah." I mumbled.

"But that doesn't make any sense if you take into account what Echidna told you," Reed said, frowning.

I scowled. "Trust me, I've been turning all this over in my head since that day. I don't know what it means either."

"Do you think whatever they have planned involves your singing?" Lyra chimed in. "With that odd nickname they've given you…"

I cringed, thinking about it again. It was so…possessive. "I don't know. Maybe. I mean with our lives, you can't really ever put off anything to coincidence. I have no idea what they think I can do by just singing."

An odd silence settled over the cabin and I suddenly felt really defensive. I flushed, looking around at my siblings, even TJ was giving me a look.

"What?" I asked.

"You really don't know—"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I know you were oblivious, but this—"

"Okay!" I interrupted. "I'm feeling really insulted right now and would like to know what you're talking about."

"Have you _seen_ how fast our younger campers fall asleep when you sing to them?" Austin explained.

"Did you just completely forget you brought the whole campfire to tears that night you sang?" Kayla added.

I stuttered, flustered at what they were implying. I was also confused, because I thought it was natural for children of Apollo to be able to affect people with their singing more than others. I knew that we could even weave magic from our godly side into performances. I didn't _think_ I did that, though, because I never felt drained after singing. Still, it had to be because I was a daughter of Apollo, right?

"Um…getting back to the point," TJ interrupted. "I think we're all wondering how this…whoever is sending these monsters after you is going to use you if you're, you know, dead." I shot him a grateful look, glad he'd steered the conversation to something that wouldn't have me blushing and stuttering like a hormonal teenager. TJ hunched his shoulders slightly, but gave me a small smile.

"That's a good point," Cressida muttered.

"When you asked the sphinx about that, it had you recite the prophecy," Kayla murmured. "Maybe they're linked. Maybe it wasn't just a distraction."

It became quite again as everyone digested this information. I recited the prophecy in my head, none of it really answering my question…but when I got to the last line, I realized something. I didn't know a whole lot about the Underworld and all its workings. However, having hung out with a child of Hades, and usually meeting said kid in the Underworld I did pick up a thing or two.

"The Doors of Death," I said. "It must have something to do with the Doors. Spirits can use them to return to the mortal world, right?"

"Well, yeah, but doesn't Thanatos have control over them?" Lyra asked.

A chill ran down my spine. "Maybe he doesn't anymore." I whispered. "Or he's going to lose them if he hasn't already."

"That might explain why monsters are regenerating faster, too," TJ said. "If the Doors are under their patron's control, they could send whichever spirits they please back to the mortal realm."

"This is bad," Kayla muttered.

"Wait, so whoever's doing this wants to kill you…just to bring you back again?" Will asked.

"For a price," I added. The pieces were all falling into place now. The more I thought about it, the faster they fell. The only thing that was left were my dreams—my heart stopped. "Or maybe…" I whispered in a shaky voice. "Luke."

A heavy silence settled over the cabin.

"You think they're that powerful?" TJ asked nervously, shifting on his hooves.

I nodded. "The Second Great Prophecy has started—you told me that. Someone is waging war against the gods. Again."

"But after the titans? Who could be as powerful?" Lyra asked.

"Or _more_ powerful," Austin added helpfully.

More powerful than the titans? That sounded like a nightmare. And so soon after the events of the Second Titan War….

A conch horn sounded in the distance.

Will stood. "All right, enough speculating for now. It's time for dinner. Besides, we're not going to get anywhere if we keep talking about it. It's just going to make things worse."

Chaos, more or less, broke out among my siblings. They were all talking at once, and I only caught brief words, parts of sentences. Some wanted to tell Chiron immediately, others thought they should do something about it like send a message to the gods somehow, despite their radio silence. It was almost too much on top of the prickles.

Will whistled—thankfully, sparing us from his sonic whistle—and everyone went silent.

"We can talk to Chiron, I didn't say we couldn't," he assured. "But after that it's up to him whether or not he tries to send word to Olympus, okay? There isn't much we can do right now until we have more pieces of the puzzle. So, please, leave it for now."

There were murmurs and mutters of assent, though I could tell none of them were happy about it. Afterward, after letting me take some pain meds, we headed to the pavilion for dinner. It was slow-going for me, for the meds hadn't kicked in yet. TJ walked beside me.

"Thanks for, um, including me," he mumbled.

"It was no problem." I smiled. "I promised, didn't I?"

Dinner went as usual. The campfire had magically reappeared, no longer blown to smithereens, so I was told by my siblings. After dinner had come and gone, I'd gone back to the cabin to sit in the tub and let the hot water from the shower run over me. Once lights out rolled around, though, I'd managed to work myself up (and just when I thought I'd finally gotten my chronic pain to a manageable level, dammit), afraid of another dream. I hadn't succeeded in what I'd set out to do this afternoon, now I was facing the consequences I'd been trying so desperately to avoid.

I tossed and turn in my bed, trying to keep my eyes open for as long as possible. Of course, after a while, because I exerted so much energy into ignoring my chronic pain and then functioning like a normal human being, I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I blinked and my eyes stayed closed.

* * *

I was standing in an empty Apollo cabin, with sunlight shining through the windows as if it were the middle of summer. Despite being protected from the weather, that didn't necessarily mean we got more or less sun during the winter. We got the same amount of sun as anyone living in New York.

Heart pounding in my chest, I dashed to the door. With Luke nowhere to be found, maybe I could make a break for it. I mean, he always caught up to me anyway, but I always tried to run. It was the only thing I could do after having failed to stay awake.

I grasped the doorknob, afraid I was going to feel arms wrap around my waist at any moment. As I was pulling the door open and stepping out, however, I almost crashed into what I first comprehended as a very tall pile of dirt.

With a gasp, I veered back, stumbling over my own feet for a moment before managing to regain my balance. I kept my eyes on the moving pile to dirt as I did this. Now that I wasn't flailing, upon closer inspection, I realized it was…a person. At least, they appeared as a person. That would also explain why they seemed to be moving toward me. Though it looked like they were floating more than actually walking, ghosting over the wooden floors, leaving no trace of dirt or dust in their wake.

A gust of wind blew the door closed, making me jump.

Looking for more defining features, I realized that they were a woman, dressed in dark, earthen robes that churned and shifted like fertile soil on a farm. The hood of the robe was pulled up over the woman's head and a thin veil of dust seemed to be hovering in front of her face. Behind that veil was the sleeping face of a woman. Despite this appearance, she seemed more aware than most people when fully awake. She also wore a small smile, which was, for some reason, unsettling.

"Who…?" I whispered, unable to finish my sentence.

Her smile seemed to grow ever so slightly. When she spoke, her lips didn't move.

"I can bring him back for you, if you wish," she said. It was almost like I was hearing her in my head, but at the same time not, because I could feel the ground beneath me vibrate, like she was using the vibrations through the earth to speak to me.

_The earth._

"Gaea," I breathed.

Her sleepy smile grew even wider and I was afraid her eyes would open at any moment. I wondered why they weren't open now.

I regarded her warily, fear coursing through my veins. "Y-you mean…Luke?" I asked.

"Yes, child."

"Wh-what do you want in return?"

"What makes you think I want something in return?" Her vibration-voice seemed careful.

"Everything has a catch. Everyone wants something in return. Every choice has a consequence," I whispered. "I know that better than anyone."

The Earth Mother paused. "I will bring him back if you join my side. I think you could be a great asset to me and my children."

My blood ran cold. "The titans?"

The Earth Mother simply regarded me with the same sleepy smile, not answering. I took this moment to work through my swirling thoughts and it suddenly occurred to me…

" _You've_ been sending those monsters?" I asked in a surprisingly strong voice. "Attacking my friends? Giving me _nicknames_ —" I broke off and sucked in a sharp breath. "My dreams." I whispered in sudden realization. "Of Luke."

"Alive," Gaea finished. "Yes, that has all been my doing. With your dreams, I have been trying to show you what you could have again, my dear."

I was about to tell her to stop sending monsters after me and that I'd never join the likes of her when something occurred to me. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"If you have control of the Doors, why not just bring him back? Why do you need me?"

The sleepy smile shrunk, and I flinched holding my breath. "He would be of no use to me by himself. Together, I could make you two unstoppable."

I blinked. "You…you didn't quite answer my question." Maybe I was pushing my luck, but at this point, I felt it couldn't get any worse than it already was. "…couldn't you just…bring him back and still use him against me without going to all the trouble of sending me dreams?"

I swear, if Gaea could've sighed, she would've. ( _Could_ she?)

" _Unfortunately_ ," she ground out, "there are Ancient Laws that even _I_ must follow. Because Luke's soul resides in Elysium, he must give me permission if I am to bring him back."

"Then my dreams—"

" _Enough!_ " she interrupted, making me jump and take an instinctive step back. My hands even ghosted to my sword, but because this was a dream, it wasn't there. "Join me and I will bring Luke back for you. No doubt he will give me permission once he knows that you have agreed. Together, you could take down the gods, finish what you started."

"You underestimate how much he's learned…grown," I whispered, my thoughts pulling me back to that cold night in the throne room of the gods.

"There are alternative ways to convince you," Gaea warned, bringing me back to the dream.

"I don't understand," I said in a quiet voice, ignoring her threat. "Why come to me now? After all these weeks of torturing me out of my mind?"

Gaea was silent for a long time, regarding me, despite her eyes being closed. It was honestly scarier than if her eyes had actually been open. It was like she could see into my soul, but I couldn't see into hers, at all. I couldn't even tell if she had one. Did immortals _have_ souls? Surely, they must…

"After your stunt today, I was afraid you would try it again," she finally explained.

"And if I tell you I'd never join your side?"

Instead of answering me outright, the cabin around us melted. It got so dark, I couldn't see anything for a few seconds as my eyes adjusted. When they did, Gaea was standing across from me, someone's bed between us. The room wasn't huge, but wasn't cramped either. There were some small storage containers lining the wall behind me, with a bookshelf underneath two other storage units. This was all underneath a wall, looking out at another apartment building. Behind Gaea were sliding doors to a closet. The walls were covered in what I assumed were posters, but it was too dark for me to make out anything other than dark blobs and even darker blobs. A nightstand next to the bed on my side held a lamp and an alarm clock. Its digital face threw a soft, blue-white light across the bed.

Despite not being able to make out a whole ton, this room felt…familiar, somehow.

I looked back down at the sleeping figure who mumbled something and rolled over.

My heart stuttered and I felt like someone had just rammed an icepick through my chest. The sleeping face that was now showing in the soft light was Dan's face, my brother's face.

My head snapped back up to Gaea. I opened my mouth to demand why she'd taken me here. Part of me had a feeling, the other wanted to know for sure.

The Earth Mother beat me to speaking, "If you do not wish for me to bring Luke back for you on the condition that you join me, then I will kill your brother. I have given you a choice and am giving you another chance: Join me, and I will bring Luke back for you. _And_ , I will spare your brother."

Time seemed to slow as my heart quickened its pace. Blood roared in my ears. There was no way I could choose. I could never do that to Luke, forcibly pull him from heaven in the Greek Mythology world. I knew he would take the offer, too. Maybe not for the reasons Gaea thought, but he'd do it and I wasn't willing to let him.

At the same time, I couldn't just sit by and let her kill my brother. I did my best to keep this dangerous life away from Dan. He was going to always encounter monsters, because he was a demigod, but he'd managed to make a life despite that. I couldn't just rip that away from him. I couldn't let him be punished for my choices.

The more I thought about this ultimatum, the angrier I got. Why did they always have to use the ones I loved against me? If they really had such a problem with me, then why not keep their punishments to me and me alone? Why couldn't they leave my loved ones out of this?

Too late, I'd been thinking too long for the Earth Mother. Dan's gasping breaths broke me from my thoughts and my gaze snapped to him. I watched helplessly as he thrashed on his bed, clawing at his throat and chest, trying to get a breath in. It was a horrid noise, each desperate gasp shredding through me like a hot knife through butter.

"Stop!" I begged, looking back at Gaea. She stared back with those closed eyes and sleepy smile. It didn't even look like she was doing anything. "Please, don't…I can't—" I didn't know what to do. You'd think the answer was obvious, but I was so torn between Luke and Dan, my brain couldn't function, couldn't make a choice. It froze.

Dan thrashed and rolled right off the bed, onto the floor on my side. I leapt back, even though I probably didn't need to. One of his hands went out, grasping for something, but I couldn't be sure what. Out of instinct, I kneeled down beside him.

"Dan," I gasped, desperately reaching out to grab his shoulder, but my hand passed straight through. I stood again. "Please, stop." I whispered. I felt tears filling my eyes. My throat closed. "Please…" Dan's gasps become quieter, less frantic. A new wave of panic washed over me.

There had to be a way I could stop this that didn't involve either choice. There _had_ to be. I felt a small, sharp pain on my right wrist and remembered my rune. _Magic._ Maybe I could fight magic with magic. I wasn't nearly as powerful as such a primordial being, but her eyes being closed and that sleepy smile must've meant she wasn't up to full power. And the fact that she'd appeared to me in a dream had to mean _something_ about the state of her powers.

I looked at my rune again, gripping my arm with my other hand. I tried to focus all my desperate, frantic, panicked emotions into my rune. Dan's gasps were quieter and farther apart. His thrashing had stopped altogether, only driving my desperation.

_Work. Work. Work!_

I thought, concentrating so hard, I stopped breathing. I couldn't hear Dan's breath anymore.

I closed my eyes, a sob escaping my lips, tears leaking through the corners of my eyes.

"Please," I sobbed, my knees buckling. " _Please!_ "

Gaea was speaking, but I wasn't listening. Using my emotions as energy, my driving force, I summoned what little magic I knew. _This had to work._ I thought, my right hand curled into such a tight fist, I felt my nails breaking the skin of my palm. My left hand squeezed my right arm so hard, I could feel the circulation being cut off. But I didn't stop focusing.

Just when I thought I'd failed, lost my brother for good, a bright light hit my eyelids and I opened my eyes to see bright, white light coming from my rune. With a gasp, I pushed myself to my feet and raised both hands toward Gaea, before the light disappeared. With a scream I tried to mentally push the light from my rune, toward her.

Instead, the whole vision started to fill with the white light. I felt the floor shake beneath me. I continued to scream, releasing not just the emotions that'd built up now, but _all_ my pent up emotions since the dreams she'd been giving me started.

I felt the pain of seeing Luke again, I felt the pain of losing him again and again and _again_. I felt the guilt of wishing I never had to wake up. I felt the guilt of letting Will down with my choice to erase my memories. I felt the frustration of being in such a helpless situation, at the gods, at the Fates. I felt the anger toward Gaea, toward anyone who'd used my loved ones again me.

I was going to _prove_ to her, tonight, once and for all, _not to mess with my brother._ And I released them all through my scream.

The white light grew brighter and brighter, blinding, even, but I didn't close my eyes.

Gaea shrieked, her scream blending and melding into my own.

By the time I realized I'd lost control of what was happening, it was too late. A loud, continuous ring invaded my ears, growing louder and louder, drowning out both our screams. I had to move my hands to my ears, but it didn't drown out the horrible noise. It felt like my head was splitting open.

As if that wasn't enough, the light had taken on a life of its own, growing brighter and hotter. I squeezed my eyes shut, but it felt like I was being roasted alive. I collapsed into a ball, pressing my palms to my ears, keeping my eyes shut tight, willing it to stop.

When it reached an unbearable level, and I thought that was it, I'd done it, I was going to die, my eyes snapped open. As usual, the prickles invaded my mind as soon as I woke up and I it took me a good five minutes to shove them away enough I could kind of think. Everything was painfully quiet, compared to what had just happened in my dream. I looked around with just my eyes, not daring to move my body (mostly because I was afraid if I did, my chronic pain would make a resurgence and I wouldn't be able to take control again).

I was lying in my bed, back in the Apollo cabin. It was dark inside. The only sound was the soft breathing of my siblings and the occasionally snore, or rustle of the sheets as they rolled in bed.

I let out a slow breath, trying to calm my speeding heart. Only, just as I was closing my eyes again, I remembered—

"Dan!" I gasped, flying up. Like I'd predicted, pin-prickles burst like a firework in my body before rolling through my limbs and to my fingers and toes like waves. I ignored all the warning signals, though, and tried to throw the covers off me while jumping out of bed. But because I'd been tossing and turning, I'd gotten tangled up. I hadn't managed to throw any of the covers off of me, so as I tried to get out of bed, my legs got even more tangled in sheets and blankets and I rolled off my bed and onto the floor.

Ignoring all of this, my thoughts focused on mostly Dan, I struggled out of my sheets and stumbled over to my chest when I'd managed to get to my feet. Around me, I was making enough of a commotion that my siblings were starting to wake. I searched around my trunk with shaking hands and ragged breath for the prism and flashlight I kept in there. Dan had given them to me as a reminder to keep in touch.

When I'd finally found them, a drachma, and my bottle of pills, I went into the bathroom, slamming the door closed and locking it. I threw the prism and flashlight onto the floor and uncapped the bottle, throwing three pills into my mouth, chasing them with water.

Not waiting for them to kick in, I dove for my prism and flashlight, setting it up so that the rainbow refracted onto one of the cupboard doors underneath the sink. I threw the drachma into the rainbow.

"O, Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Please show me Dan, my brother," I half sobbed.

The rainbow flickered before showing me my brother, lying, sound asleep in his bed. I was at a weird height, the message looked a little low, but that was the least of my concerns right now. His back was facing me. The back of his head was showing in the glow of his alarm clock.

It wasn't enough. I couldn't tell if he was breathing. And I hated to wake him this late, but…after the dream I'd just had, I _needed_ to know.

"Dan," I said, my voice coming out in a small, hoarse whisper. Swallowing hard and clearing my throat, I tried again. "Dan!" I called. He didn't move and my heart started going double time. I could _feel_ the blood drain from my face. "Dan!" I called one more time, louder.

With a start, Dan jerked up, looking around for the source of the sound. He blinked away his sleepy eyes, squinting at the sudden light in the room. I let out a breath, feeling so relieved I almost felt sick.

Dan looked over at the IM with a confused expression.

"Tor—Victoria?" he mumbled, throwing his legs off the bed, and leaning slightly toward the message.

I blinked and tears streamed down my face. I took in a breath, ready to apologize and let him go back to sleep. Instead, what came out was, "You're okay." The dam broke and I started sobbing, sinking lower to the floor. I heard Dan's voice, trying to comfort me, but I needed to let it out before I could rein it back in.

I'm not sure how long it took, but eventually, I managed to stop crying so violently and sat up, taking a deep breath. I was still crying, but it wasn't as harsh anymore.

"Do you need me to come over?" Dan asked. He'd moved while I'd been crying, to sit on the floor so he could be closer to the IM, leaning back against his bed. He hadn't bothered to turn on the lights. Just as well, the only light in the bathroom currently was the flashlight and IM.

"No!" I exclaimed. "I mean, no, I don't want you to drop everything for me. I know you're very busy, even during the holiday season. Come over when you have time. And I'll be seeing you in _Les Mis_ , soon, anyway."

Dan didn't look convinced, but we'd had this conversation enough times that he knew it did no good to argue with me on this point. I wanted him to have as normal a life as possible.

"I just…h-had a bad dream," I explained lamely. "N-not a normal demigod dream." It wasn't a lie, it just also wasn't exactly the truth, either. "Y-you were dying—" I broke off, another sob escaping.

Dan's eyes softened. "I'm okay," he assured in a soft voice, but the corners of his lips turned down slightly, like he was frowning.

"Dan, please, if something h-happened—"

"No, I'm fine, really, it's just—" Dan broke off, let out a heavy sigh and looked away. "I just didn't want to worry you." He explained levelly. "But before you woke me up, I'd woken up a few minutes ago from a dream where I was suffocating. I guess…I was so exhausted from it, I fell right back to sleep." His frown got deeper.

The breath left me, too quiet for Dan to hear over IM. So that part _hadn't_ quite been a dream. That meant even not at her full potential, she was still powerful. It made sense, but at the same time, it also scared me. If she could do that to Dan, what would stop her from killing him without my knowledge?

My blood froze. What if she started sending monsters after him? My wish had been to show her not to use my brother against me, but had that just made her mad? Surely she'd have other tactics to use to convince me to come to her side other than Luke or my brother, right?

There was still that whole siren business, too. That had to mean _something_.

"Are you absolutely sure you don't want me to come over?" my brother asked.

I nodded, trying to pull myself from my swirling thoughts. I hoped my show of force had been enough tonight to show Gaea she would stay away from my brother or face consequences.

"I'm sure," I said. "If you've got time, then I'd love for you to come visit, but if you don't, we can IM on Christmas Eve or Day. And on New Year's."

"…well, all right." He paused. "You should try and get some more sleep. You looked exhausted."

I barked a laugh. Oh, how ironic. Dan rolled his eyes, but his lips turned up in a small smile. He started to lift his hand, ready to swipe it through the message.

"No, wait!" I exclaimed. He froze, looking at me startled. "Will you…will you leave it up? Please? I just…I don't want—I mean—"

Dan smiled softly. "Sure. I can leave it up."

"Thank you."

"Love you, Victoria."

"Love you, too, Dan."

With that, Dan stood and climbed back into bed, laying down on his side, facing me. He pulled the covers up to his chin and met my eyes one more time.

"Good night."

"Good night." I managed in a whisper. Dan rolled over then. I kept my eyes on the IM, so afraid Gaea would suddenly appear in his bedroom and finish what she'd started, but nothing happened. I don't know how long I sat there, watching my brother, but eventually exhaustion won out. Still, the dream had scared me so much, I was reluctant to end the message just yet. So, instead, I unlocked the door to the bathroom before going back to the IM and finding a comfortable position on the floor. My eyes slowly slid closed and before I knew it, I was out.

* * *

I started awake from a dream, but strangely enough, it had been a regular nightmare. Horrible in that I dreamed Dan was dying again, but I could tell it was my own mind and not some primordial being sending me the dream. Maybe my stunt with that magic had paid off. How long that would last I wasn't sure.

Despite how scared I was at all that was happening (so sudden and so fast, and so soon), I'd finally put most of the pieces together. Gaea had unwittingly revealed information to me that I don't think she'd intended on revealing: I was important to her. _Very_ important. She'd made it crystal clear. I just wasn't quite sure why. Yet.

It was still dark outside, but I could feel dawn. I looked over at Dan, who was still fast asleep. He was on his back this time, but I could see his chest rise and fall. It was faint, but it was there.

Reluctantly, I turned off the flashlight. I quickly downed three more pain meds before gathering my stuff and exiting the bathroom. I got dressed and ready to face another day. It wasn't until I was heading up the hill toward Peleus that I realized today was December 21, and if I was remembering correctly from what little I'd payed attention to when my siblings had told me about the newbie's quest (in fact, I swear, some of them couldn't stop talking about it), today was also their deadline.

As I watched the sun rise up from the waves of Long Island and hummed a soft tune, leaning against Peleus, I thought—and I was going to the Fields of Punishment for this—maybe the end of the world wouldn't be so bad.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I did my math correctly, I should have the right day (according to the timeline I've presented in these past two, three chapters), but it's so hard to tell with Rick's vague descriptions. I spent who knows how long trying to figure out HOO's timeline. Don't even get me started.
> 
> Well, here's the next chapter. Finally, it has been revealed who's been sending Tori those horrid dreams! I'm sure you may have had an inkling, but still…surprise! Glad to finally have that mystery solved?
> 
> I'm on Thanksgiving Break, so I'll have more time to write *knocks on wood* but that won't guarantee faster updates. I hope I will get to update a few times this week, but weeks go by faster than you'd think. And writer's block strikes at the most inopportune times.
> 
> Title taken from "It's the End of the World" by R.E.M. ~~I think I'm hilarious~~.
> 
> Anyway, as always, I hoped you enjoyed! (And, um, please leave a comment, if it's not too much to ask ^_^)
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	18. The Major Fall and the Minor Lift

The day was hard. Because it was the deadline for the newbies and we hadn't heard any sort of word from them, people were getting antsy, anxious. Whispers, rumors, worries floated around camp. It was too reminiscent of five years ago, when the camp was waiting for Percy, Annabeth, and Grover to return from _their_ quest.

There were some key differences, however. Because the gods had been silent for at least a month now, there wasn't much taking sides this time—no impending war between the gods. No fights broke out, activities went on tentatively. Now that my cabin and I knew that Gaea was instigating this with someone possibly more powerful than the titans, it only made things worse.

This _felt_ bigger than what happened with the titans, which was the worst part.

My cabin and I met with Chiron during their climbing wall and my free time, right before dinner to talk to him about it. We sat out on the porch of the Big House, since I still couldn't go into the front room.

As we—well, more like I, since Gaea seemed to be targeting me for some reason—explained what we'd figured out last night, Chiron sat there, silent. His face seemed to age the more information we gave him. By the time I'd finished, Chiron looked ancient. His dark eyes seemed sunken in, as he stared pensively at the strawberry fields.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention," Chiron finally said, blinking and looking at me, meeting my eyes. "I will try and send word to Olympus, but…" he trailed off, making it quite apparent he wasn't going to finish. "Until then, there's not much we will be able to do about it."

"So we're just going to sit around and wait?" Cressida snapped.

Lyra and Austin reprimanded her because they were the closet sitting to her, but she glared at them and muttered something under her breath.

"Unfortunately, that is all we can do. We may prepare for what is coming, but until we have more information, I wouldn't know what to prepare for. It would be…unwise to prepare for what Gaea may be planning if we don't have enough details." He paused and I could practically hear some of my siblings take a breath in to say something but Chiron continued on quickly, in a slightly louder voice. "We should take it one problem at a time. Right now, we are waiting for the three demigods to return. We can only hope Hera has been freed."

"Guys, we should listen to Chiron," Will said quietly.

"But what about Victoria," Cressida exclaimed. "Gaea seems to be targeting her. There must be something we can do to…protect her or… _something_!"

I turned to look at my half-sister over my shoulder. "It's okay," I murmured. "I can handle it." I remembered what I'd tried to do yesterday and my eyes flickered over to Will. I could just tell from the look he was giving me, he was calling me on my lie. I quickly looked back at Cressida. "She can't do much else than threaten me right now."

"What about Dan!" Reed said.

I let out a breath in annoyance and frustration. I really should've seen that one coming. I'd told them this morning about what'd happened. How could I not? I'd woken up in the middle of the night making all that racket and then locked myself in the bathroom. Honestly, I'm surprised they hadn't broken the door down. Though, I would find out later that Will convinced everyone to go back to bed, while he had sat outside the door, listening.

"That…was a little different," I stuttered. "I sent her a message, she shouldn't be going after him anymore."

"And what if the message didn't get through?" Cressida pushed.

"You think I haven't thought about this?" I snapped. "It's been driving me mad with worry and anxiety. As if I haven't had enough of that already!"

"All right, all right, I'm sorry." Cressida held up her hands in a surrender gesture.

I sighed. "I'm sorry, too."

The conch horn sounded in the distance.

"Why don't you head back to your cabin and prepare for dinner," Chiron suggested. "Try not to worry about it too much. Panic will only make the situation worse. I am sorry there isn't more to be done right now."

"Thanks, Chiron," Will said, standing up. "Come on, guys."

We silently shuffled off the porch and back to our cabin. We took five minutes to gather our thoughts and refresh a bit before heading back out, to the dining pavilion.

Dinner was silent and tense. So far, nothing had happened with the world, that we knew, so hopefully that meant that the newbies had succeeded. However, there was still no sign of them…that is, until about half-way through dinner.

The air around the pavilion seemed to pop. I glanced over to my right at the Aphrodite table, which now had three demigods standing in the middle, some of their shoes in food. I recognized the newbies. Around me, campers stood, jaws open, eyes wide.

I stifled a groan and threw my fork down, glaring at the platter of food on our table. I heard a commotion and was curious enough to sneak a peek. The Hephaestus kid had jumped off the table and was now leaning over the brazier, retching, most likely vomiting.

"Jason?" Chiron asked. Even he sounded shocked! He approached the Aphrodite table slowly. "What—How—?"

The girl spoke, but she wasn't looking at Chiron, she was looking around at her siblings. "Hi," she said. "We're back."

Once everyone had gotten over their initial shock, some campers started to move, to help Captain America and the girl off the table. One of the Hephaestus kids got the fidgety kid a glass of water. Reed and Kayla got the other two glasses of water.

During this, I kept my eyes mostly on my plate, pushing around what was left of the food. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry anymore.

Austin leaned toward me, for he was sitting across from me at the table. "Um, they've returned," he whispered.

"Yes." I muttered, keeping my eyes on my plate.

"Hera's been saved. That's good news!"

"Quite."

Austin sighed. "You're no fun." I snorted. "Does _anything_ impress you anymore?"

I finally looked up at him, setting my fork down. "No."

"Do you speak in more than monosyllables?" he muttered, pouting.

I smiled without humor. "Yes."

Austin rolled his eyes.

By now, Captain America, the girl, and the fidgety kid had sat down at Zeus's table, facing the rest of the campers at their respective tables. All eyes were on them. I could just feel story-time coming up, so I decided to leave. I didn't care to hear what they'd encountered. Besides, my siblings would tell me the most important details, anyway.

I pushed my plate away from me and stood.

"You're leaving?" Lyra asked sounding incredulous.

"Not hungry anymore," I muttered as I turned away and exited the pavilion.

I went and hid in the Hades cabin, needing a minute. I was annoyed at myself for letting these three kids get to me so much, but two of them were part of cabins that hated me. So I automatically hated them back. Besides, it wasn't like they weren't going to go and make their own judgments after they'd heard the rumors. It was…a preemptive hate.

Still…I _knew_ these emotions were irrational, and despite all that, I found I couldn't quench them. That had to be the most annoying thing about this whole situation.

It felt like I'd only been sitting there, in the dark, for five minutes before there was a knock on the door. I started, staring cautiously at door, wondering who it could be. I was worried at first, my hands going to my sword, but then I realized it was probably Will.

With a groan, I slowly got to my feet and made my way over to the door. What did he want? Had I really been in here so long that dinner _and_ the campfire had passed?

Sure enough, it was Will standing outside the door. I slipped out and quietly closed the door, as Will stepped off the porch and onto the green.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as I made my way down the few steps.

"Nothing I can't handle," I muttered. We started toward the amphitheater and I was about to tell him I was going to skip the campfire, too, when he spoke.

"Someone requested you sing at the campfire tonight." Will said it so quick and so low I almost didn't catch what he'd said.

"Who?" I asked.

"One of the kids from Aphrodite cabin—"

" _What_?"

"Um…Lacy, I think her name is," Will explained. "And this is only if you're up for it, of course."

That made more sense. I wanted to decline, but my chronic pain was bearable. Also, there was no way Drew would take Lacy over if she was having trouble sleeping. And I had a feeling that Viola had made that request on behalf of the children here whose cabins absolutely hated my guts, or didn't want to be caught dead wanting a song to help them sleep.

I sighed. "Yeah, I can do it."

Will scoffed. "You sure?" When I looked over at him, offended, he had an eyebrow raised.

"I'm _fine_ , Will," I told him in a hard voice. "I'm just going to stop and get my guitar. You go on ahead, don't want to keep your fans waiting."

"Har, har." Will rolled his eyes and jogged off toward the amphitheater while I veered back toward the cabins. I took two pain meds before grabbing my guitar and heading to the campfire. By the time I arrived, they were in full swing. I sat off to the side as I usually did, watching the crowd, through firelight.

I didn't spot the three newbies, so I figured they'd gone to bed early. Not a surprise, they'd probably had a long three days. I did spot Nick with the Hecate cabin, but he wasn't paying attention. As far as I could tell he was reading something. I wonder if he knew he didn't have to come and could hang back in his cabin. I'd have to tell him sometime. Chiron had informed me today that he'd be joining both the elementary swordsmanship and archery classes, so I'd have a chance to chat with him then.

When the campfire had ended, Will announced that I'd be singing a song to wrap up the night. Like last time, I took my time getting up onto the stage. This was only the second time I'd gone this, so the nerves felt just as bad as last time. My fear that I wouldn't be able to play certain chords would always be there and always be just as strong as the first time.

I'd already found out I couldn't do certain sword fighting moves, which meant I probably wouldn't be able to do certain dagger moves, certain hand-to-hand combat moves, etc. Then there was that wonderful scene at the climbing wall. Oh, and recently I'd also found out that I could no longer jump through trees. It was a thing I'd learned how to do a long while back, but I'd finally found time to do it again, after having gotten my chronic pain, and had nearly broken my leg (again) falling out of tree.

But those I could handle. I could cope, learn new techniques, avoid certain moves. Being able to play the guitar, my mom's guitar, her favorite instrument, however, was like air to me.

I was feeling the 1960s again, one of my mom's favorite eras of music, and so decided on a classic: "House of the Rising Sun." Of course, I put a bit of my mom's spin as well as my own. It was, perhaps, a bit more modern because I had been listening to a lot of modern music these days, trying to make up for lost time, but I kept the classic undertones.

Once we got back to our cabin, being the last one to enter, I closed the door slowly and took a deep breath. I set my guitar down on the floor gently and let it lean against the wall. I turned and looked expectantly at my siblings.

"All right, lay it on me."

They didn't wait a second. The only one who wasn't explaining what the newbies had told the rest of the camp, about their adventures was Will. It was almost scary the way one would break off and another would pick up and finish. It was like they'd rehearsed it or something. Will just stood back, watching them with an amused look on his face. I caught his gaze every now and again, _begging_ him to call lights out, but he would always give me a small smile and shrug.

When my siblings had mercifully gotten through everything they had wanted to tell me, it was finally time for lights out. I put my guitar on its stand, regretting the decision to stand during their recount.

"We're holding a council meeting tomorrow evening," Will informed me as I was pulling back the sheets of my bed.

"To discuss what transpired more in depth?" I asked.

"Most likely, yes." Will leaned against the bed post and crossed his arm.

"You think it has something to do with Gaea? Hera's kidnapping?"

Will nodded. "Yeah. And Jason's sudden appearance, too."

"Why just him?"

Will shifted, looking exasperated. "Well, if you'd been _listening_ these past few days"—I rolled my eyes and glared at him—"you'll know that he uses the names of the gods' Roman counterparts and has a strange unexplainable tattoo on his forearm. Looks like a sign of Zeus and 12 bars, almost like you'd see on a bar code. Oh, and no memory of his life up until three days ago."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "A bit strange…" I muttered. "You think Gaea did that?"

"No, if she'd sent him here as some kind of spy, I don't think she'd have erased his memories, at least not all of them. No memories, clean slate, doesn't have an opinion on us yet _to_ decide to spy. I'm sure I'll know more after the meeting. Would you like me to tell you about what we discuss?"

If it involved Gaea, it was probably relevant to me. I sighed and nodded. "I promise I'll listen this time," I half-joked.

Will rolled his eyes but smiled. He pushed away from the bed post and started toward his own bed.

"Night."

"Night," I called over my shoulder before climbing into bed, wondering what horrors would await me in my dreams.

* * *

I was dreading having to do cabin inspections this week. Even though my dreams of Luke had stopped (in fact, I hadn't had any dreams since my nightmare the night Gaea had finally confronted me—I wasn't sure how to feel about this) I always thought of the very first one I'd ever had…how it took place in the Aphrodite cabin. I didn't think I'd be able to enter that cabin ever again.

And yet…here I was, having to because I needed to do cabin inspections. Now it wasn't generally my job, because I wasn't a head counselor. However, Mr. D had made it part of my chores, so we cycled through the weeks of who did inspections. This week just happened to be mine.

I saved their cabin until last. I walked up slowly to their front door, staring up at it. It loomed over me, daunting, the light pastels almost mocking.

Swallowing hard, I walked up onto the porch and went to the door. I lifted a shaking hand and knocked lightly against the door. Drew answered. She rolled her eyes and stepped back, opening the door wider.

"About time," she snapped. "Did you almost forget our cabin or something?"

I took another deep breath, but quiet enough so Drew wouldn't hear before forcing myself to step into their cabin. I could only just make it past the threshold. My gaze flickered around, spotless as usual. No trash on the floor, all the chests were closed and labelled, all the beds were made so neat you could bounce a coin off them.

"Looks, good, five as usual," I mumbled, swiftly marking it off on the parchment without really looking and turning to head out.

"What—" Drew exclaimed. "You didn't even look!"

"I've learned to obtain the maximum amount of information with the minimal amount of effort," I replied, heading down the steps of their porch, not bothering to look back at her.

Drew snorted. "Oh, please—"

I stopped walking and straightened up, but continued to keep my back to her. "You're wearing cut-off jean shorts with navy blue high-tops and a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. The hem of the shirt has been tied into a knot on the right side and tucked underneath, so it's not showing. You've got two golden bangles on your left arm and one charm bracelet on your right. Your hair's down. Am I wrong?"

When Drew didn't answer, I started to head back to the Big House to turn in the inspections. I hadn't made it very far before Drew spoke up again.

"Heard you were having a bit of trouble with the climbing wall," she called. "You feeling okay?" It was subtle, but I could hear the sarcasm in her tone.

I gripped my pencil and slowed my pace. Was she purposefully trying to piss me off? Because it was certainly working. Of course, part of it was most definitely because the Aphrodite cabin had been conditioned to hate me, so I hated them back. Just kind of the principle of the thing. If they weren't going to make an effort to be at least civil with me, then why bother trying to be friends with them. I _tried_ to be civil, unlike them, though.

"Heard about your slipups during sword fighting, too," she continued when I didn't answer. I'd stopped walking by now. "Are you in pain? Or are you just being…lazy? You cabin still goes to the climbing wall. And, um, what is it that _you_ do, during that time?" She continued on, but my annoyance and growing anger was drowning out her words. I pressed my thumb up against the pencil, harder and harder…until it snapped.

Drew broke of, the snap echoing through my brain.

"Hadn't you heard?" I asked, kneeling down to pick up the other half of the pencil, not looking back at her. "That's old gossip. Talk to me again when you've got something fresh."

With that, I headed off. Drew didn't stop me this time.

* * *

As it would turn out, Will wouldn't be the one to tell me about what went on in the meeting. Annabeth caught me as my free time started in my schedule. We went to the beach to talk in a more private-like area. At the very least, you couldn't eavesdrop without having to be really close because of the sound of the waves. And since it was the beach, it was a stretch of wide-open space, so anyone wanting to get close enough _to_ eavesdrop would be noticed.

Not that we really had to worry about eavesdroppers, really, because the whole camp would know what went on during the meeting by the end of tonight, I was sure of it. It was just the way my brain worked these days. I was always wary, anxious, paranoid, pessimistic.

Annabeth confirmed the information that Gaea had gotten hold of the Doors of Death. Apparently, Captain America was a Roman demigod, and there was actually another safe place for demigods—Camp Jupiter, in California. She explained that's why there was so much Mist and why it was told to us that California was a dangerous place. Not because there were a lot of monsters, but because they didn't want the Greek demigods bumping into the Roman demigods. Our past was difficult, to say the least—we _did not_ get along.

She told me about how the Roman demigods had helped during the Second Titan War by storming Mount Orthrys and defeating the titans there, specifically Krios. She talked about the fidgety kid's—I know, I really ought to learn his and his friends' names—plan to make the _Argo II_ and that it would be traveling over to Camp Jupiter, per Hera's plan. Captain America had been one of the leaders at his camp, and was exchanged for Percy from our camp—to try and prove Greeks and Romans could cooperate with each other.

"That's great news," I commented when she'd finished.

Annabeth took a deep breath and wiped underneath her eyes. "It is, but I'm…"

"Still scared?"

She nodded taking another deep breath and sniffling. Her voice was barely a whisper, and even though I was sitting right next to her, I almost didn't catch her words over the roar of the ocean.

"I still don't know where he is." She wiped under her eyes again. "I still don't know if he'll be _safe_. I tried to contact him, but…no luck. I mean, he _might_ be at the Roman camp, but we can't be sure. It's going to take _months_ to construct a _flying_ war ship—!" She broke off, gasping for breath.

I tentatively reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "You said Hera enacted this switch, right?" She nodded, not minding my hand. I continued to massage her shoulder gently. "You and she may not have the best relationship, but she wouldn't risk a gamble like this. From what I've gathered this switch was a desperate last attempt to save her skin and buy the gods some time. If she's that desperate, she'll keep him safe wherever he is until he's needed or makes to the Roman camp."

"Jason said…" She let out a breath. "He said that they aren't as friendly. Or welcoming. They're strict, more militaristic. What if…what if they don't except him? What if he's—"

I gave her shoulder a hard squeeze, enough to cause some pain. Her head snapped up and she looked at me with watery grey eyes. I shifted so I was facing her, grabbing both her shoulders, so she would look me dead on.

"It will only drive you mad if you think that way," I told her firmly. "I'm not saying don't, because sometimes these thoughts can be intruding, but try not to let them spiral. Don't let them make you so scared you can't move anymore. Distract yourself. Plan. Anything else. Try not to dwell on them too long. Acknowledge they're there and then try and move on.

"Percy makes friends so easily," I half-laughed. "I mean, my friendship is a testament to that, don't you think?" I got a small smile from Annabeth, which was relieving, knowing I was making some kind of difference. " _Someone_ , even if it's just one person, at the camp is guaranteed to see Percy for who he is: brave, loyal, _friendly_. They'll make sure he fits into that camp. He won't be on his own."

"You sound so sure," Annabeth mumbled, looking down. "Are you…getting a feeling? Is it one of those children-of-Apollo things?" I laughed at her wording and gave her shoulders one more squeeze before releasing them.

"Honestly, no, I'm not getting a feeling," I admitted. "But I do know Percy well enough to know he'll be all right."

Annabeth sighed, turning to face the sea again. I shifted, too, as she said, "I feel inadequate now. I'm supposed to be his girlfriend, know everything about him."

"You're also his girlfriend. You love him. And that makes you worry for his wellbeing. Emotions sometimes rule out logic. Being a daughter of Athena, I'm sure you know all about that," I playfully nudged her with elbow and winked.

I got another small smile before she groaned and made a face. "It's super annoying, though."

I laughed. "I can imagine."

It was quiet for a long moment before, "Thanks."

"I'll always be here for you if you need," I reminded her.

"Well, I…I'd better get to my activity," Annabeth said. I nodded and we both stood, brushing sand off our pants before heading off in different directions.

* * *

I was heading back to my cabin to take a nap. My chronic pain was starting to act up. As was my luck these days, I didn't quite make it to my cabin. I heard the footsteps before anything else, approaching me at a rapid pace—angry.

I turned, reaching for my sword out of instinct, but they were closer than I'd anticipated. As I faced the person, their hand came around and slapped me, as they hissed, "You bitch!"

It was like time froze for a moment as I registered the sharp pain and my brain analyzed the situation. It was Drew, the Aphrodite cabin was behind her. The new head counselor, Piper (I'd finally learned her and the others' names), was immediately behind Drew.

My moment was over and Drew's hand came back around to backhand me, but I raised my left hand and caught it before it could make contact, glaring at her. My right hand came up to cradle my left cheek.

"A three!" she exclaimed, trying to slip from my grip, but I didn't let her wrist go. "You gave us a three?" The more she talked, the angrier I got. "Did you _even_ look? Now we have to do _chores_!"

"Drew," Piper said in a low voice. "It's fine. Leave it."

"It's not fine! Our cabin was spotless!" Drew yelled, but kept her eyes on me.

"Must've been a mess up," I told her in a low voice, trying not to squeeze her wrist too tight, as my anger built inside me, churning and bubbling like magma right in the pit of my stomach, but its peaks reaching the middle of my chest as it rose and fell.

"Oh, don't be smart with me," Drew growled. Her eyes flickered to my hand still holding her wrist and she tried to pull away again. Her eyes met mine again, filled with loathing. "Let go."

I didn't. "I don't think I will. I'm telling you the truth. It was a _mistake_." I must've been so worried about going inside, my hand had slipped when checking the box.

Piper stepped closer to us. "Please, both of you, calm down."

My anger grew when I felt the familiar haze fall through me—that hazy sensation I got when Kelli had been charmspeaking Luke. I'd become hypersensitive to its particular feel of magic, which was only intensified after I'd started using magic myself.

Drew ignored Piper again, addressing me. "You are going to go back to the Big House and talk to Chiron. You are going to tell him there was a mix-up, and _fix this_."

Another hazy wave rolled over me as the charmspeak hit, which only made my anger turn into rage. The magma began to rise higher and higher, hitting my throat. I was on the verge of an eruption.

I stepped in, toward her, getting into Drew's face.

"You know, I might have, if you had come to me about it without physically assaulting, and then insulting me," I told her. "But now? Not a chance." I snarled. She blinked, shocked that her charmspeak hadn't worked. "Did you forget? I spent two years of my life around well-trained charmspeakers," I mockingly scolded, pulling back slightly. "You're little parlor tricks"—I glared at Piper momentarily before going back to Drew—"don't work on me."

"Hm." A small smile formed on Drew's lips and my alarms went off. "You don't need to remind me that you're a traitor."

The volcano erupted.

Before anything dangerous could happen, before my hand could snap Drew's wrist, I felt someone's hand rest on my wrist, firmly. My head snapped over to see Will, the only one who could approach a volcanic eruption and survive. He gently pulled my hand from Drew's wrist, forcing himself between me and Drew as he turned us. Will then started to lead me away, toward our cabin. He kept one hand, gripping mine.

That didn't stop the eruption, however. I knew Will and my other siblings were trying to talk to me, but his words were drowned out by the crash and explosions happening inside my head. My vision was blinded by the lighting flashing as energy was released and lava flowed out from the blown top. I was breathing hard, gasping almost. I could feel the worst panic attack ever coming on, but there was no stopping this one. I was too angry. It was too much.

" _Tori_."

I jolted, stopping in my tracks, at my nickname. I looked over to my left at Will, tears brimming my eyes. My breath was ragged and desperate. I started to look around, past Will, behind me, but Will dropped my hand and took my head into his hands.

"Don't look," he said, almost urgently.

"What?" I gasped, reaching up to pull his hands away, his tone worrying me.

"Just keep your eyes on me," he said in a gentler tone, his eyes softening. My hands froze in midair. "You _need_ to calm down."

"I-I don't understand," I whispered, my chest heaving. Will examined me for a moment before his eyes flickered to my right wrist.

I followed his gaze slowly. I sucked in a sharp breath when I realized my rune was glowing white, like in my dream. Mist was swirling around my wrist, my arm, in thin trails like tentacles, and fanning out. Will slowly lowered his hands and I stumbled back, looking around to see the Mist had surrounded me and Will, so thick I could barely see the rest of our siblings. It diffused even more until it was like a fog had blown into the green.

"Did I do that?" I asked, looking back at Will. He nodded, finally letting the worry show on his face.

I blinked and the tears streamed down my face. I covered my mouth with my left hand, not trusting my right, as a sob escaped.

"It's okay, it's okay," Will assured quickly, stepping closer to me. "You just lost your temper, no one got hurt."

It took me a moment to swallow the sobs. But finally…I removed my hand and nodded. "Okay." I whispered before blacking out.

* * *

My siblings, unfortunately, woke me up for dinner. I had wanted to go back to sleep because I was still exhausted and my chronic pain had made a horrible resurgence. They wouldn't let me, though, so I took three pain meds and they helped me to the pavilion. The Mist had been cleared away by now, by Lou Ellen, I was told.

Dinner went on as usual…I think. I don't know, I wasn't completely cognizant because I was in so much pain. Even so, it was always strange to me, how life went on so quickly after a big quest that had even bigger revelations.

Despite things settling down from the quest _and_ what'd happened today, I supposed, I was exhausted and the pain meds had done nothing to help with the pain of my prickles, so after dinner I headed back to the cabin (with help from Lyra). I took some more pain meds (hoping they'd actually do something) before sitting in the bath, letting hot water run over me for a solid thirty minutes. After drying off and putting my pajamas on, I barely made it back to my bed before I was asleep.

It felt like mere seconds later I was being woken up. Someone was softly calling my name. It took a moment for me to wake, and then to push away the pin-pricks. But at least I could. Finally, I rolled over, blinking sleep from my eyes and squinting as they adjusted to the light.

"Is something wrong?" I mumbled, looking around for my sword.

"Nothing's wrong," Kayla assured. "Some people are here to see you."

I sat up and looked at Kayla, confused. "What?" Kayla's eyes flickered to her right and I followed her gaze. There were four extra bodies in our cabin. Two of them were Lou Ellen and one of her younger siblings, Kevin. The other two people I was astonished to see, one more than the other.

The fidgety kid—Leo, I mean, the new head counselor for the Hephaestus cabin, and Harley were standing in our cabin.

I stared at the two for maybe longer than was socially acceptable before my gaze went back to Kayla.

"…I don't understand," I murmured.

"Heard this was the place to be when we had kids who were having trouble sleeping," Leo said, a little too loud for my comfort. I'd just woken up, so the lights seemed too bright, sounds too loud.

I stood, trying to get over my shock. I just couldn't _believe_ my own eyes. Surely he'd heard the rumors about me by now? Why his cabin hated me so much. So why was he here tonight?

I took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly, keeping my gaze on the floor. Finally, I looked up and asked, "Yes. Um…do you mind sitting on the floor?" Both head counselor's shook their heads, so I slowly lowered myself to the floor, using my bed to help. Lou Ellen and Leo sat down, too. Lou Ellen took Kevin into her lap and Leo followed her lead. (I didn't miss the lost look on his face a split second before. He couldn't have been more than fifteen…no wonder. Though Lou was pretty young, too. All four of them were….)

"Now," I straightened my pajama pants, feeling awkward at this sudden turn of events. "You don't mind if I pick the song, tonight?" I asked Kevin and Harley. They both shook their heads. I sat back against my bed and took a deep breath, closing my eyes. I kept them close as I started singing "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley. My mother's rendition, as usual, with some of my own personal twist.

My siblings joined in during the second time I sang the chorus and the proceeding choruses after, their voices fading out as I went into another verse. Being children of the music god, our cabin had perfect acoustics. With their added voices, echoing through the cabin, the song sounded more haunting than I'd ever heard it before.

I opened my eyes as the last "hallelujah" echoed through our cabin. I couldn't help but smile at my siblings before turning back to Lou Ellen and Leo. Lou Ellen was actively wiping tears from her eyes. Leo had tears in his wide eyes, but none had fallen. Both Kevin and Harley were sound asleep.

"Wow," he whispered.

I shrugged, but looked away, my face growing hot, feeling kind of embarrassed. I still hadn't gotten over my shock of him _being_ here at all, let alone letting me sing for his sibling.

I stood, and they followed, holding their sleeping siblings in their arms.

"Thank you," Lou Ellen sniffled as I walked her and the other kid to the door.

"Yeah, thanks, that was amazing," Leo complimented.

"Of course." I smiled. This close to him and I realized how elfish he looked: lanky, with slightly pointed ears. Not a look I associated with Hephaestus kids, usually.

I opened the door and Leo tried to offer Lou Ellen to go first, but she insisted he go since he was closer. I quickly followed Lou Ellen out, gently grabbing her arm while I closed the door.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" I asked in a low voice so Leo wouldn't be able to hear and continue on his way to his cabin.

"Oh, yeah, sure, what is it you need?" Lou asked, shifting Kevin slightly, careful not to wake him.

"Um…well, I was wondering if you could…teach more about my rune." I self-consciously reached over with my left hand and stroked it with my thumb. "It's…been…well, it's hard to explain—acting up, lately? You saw what happened today. Did Will explain?"

"Oh, yeah. You…got angry…" her voice trailed off and she looked at me with wary eyes.

"Well, I—that's is why I'm coming to you. I-I just want to know how my potential and limitations with magic work with this." Aside from today, I thought about my dream and the loss of control that'd nearly, I was sure, killed me. "I want to learn to…control it better."

Lou's eyebrows furrowed. "Did-did something else happen?"

I blinked. Did I really sound that desperate? Scared? "Uh, recently, yeah, but I'll tell you more about later," I mumbled quickly. "Can we work on this? Will that be okay?"

She still looked a little miffed at what I was telling her, but she nodded. "Sure, I can help. We can talk tomorrow and see when our schedules match up."

I relaxed, not realizing how nervous I actually was about this. "Thanks. Um, have a good night."

"Yeah, no problem. Have a good night." She turned and headed off the porch. I went back inside. My siblings were waiting expectantly.

"I just wanted to ask her a question," I explained. When it was clear they weren't going to take such a vague answer, I continued. "About my rune. Whatever happened in my dream, _and_ today, I need to learn to control it."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, so lately I've really felt my writing's been lack-luster. I mean, obviously not, going by your comments, but for me, personally, it's just felt that I haven't written my best these past few chapters. Also, including this chapter. So, I mean, if it does feel that way at points, I apologize for that.
> 
> I also feel like things may devolve into some teen drama as we go on, through the months leading up to SON. But I feel it a great disservice to not include those months since this is a single story and not separate books. Rick got away with it because he does have separate books. Of course, it won't just be conflict that I've introduced here, I have two big plot points planned ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°),  it just feels that way to me.
> 
> In summary, it's been a struggle lately (which may be more personal than anything, I'm just afraid it might affect my writing).
> 
> And these are my thoughts as I'm wrapping up Chapter 18.
> 
> Title taken from "Hallelujah" but the words have been switched around a bit. Thought it fit better.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	19. The Opposite of What You Just Did

Today was the first day that Nick was going to be joining my elementary classes in archery and swordsmanship. Honestly, I was kind of nervous because I wasn't used to teaching someone closer to my age (he was 20). I wasn't sure how I would go about it because he had more knowledge, more experience, and a larger vocabulary than most of the people in my elementary classes. (I mean, my siblings were older than the really young ones, but they were still at least 10, more or less, years younger than me. Only Will was in elementary archery, however.)

"You're late," I said, putting my hands on my hips, raising an eyebrow as Nick came over the crest of the hill and down to the archery range. He'd acquired another pair of glasses, which were currently lopsided on his face. He was panting heavily, like he'd run all the way from the cabins. I'd already set the other kids practicing their technique. No shooting arrows quiet yet. That'd be the second half of class. Though, I did have Will shooting arrows. He was a bit more advanced than the others, but not enough to be moved up to the intermediate archery class.

"…I'm…sorry," he apologized through gasps as he came to a stop in front of me, leaning on his knees. I went over to one of the bales of hay that we kept around the archery range to grab his bow and quiver of arrows.

"Are you going to be all right for the activity? You sound a bit more out of breath than you should be." I held out the bow and quiver for him.

Nick straightened up, still catching his breath, and took the items, slinging the quiver over his shoulder. "I'll be fine." His voice sounded a bit hoarse. "Just exercise induced in this instance."

I gave him a look, but turned to lead him to the target he'd be practicing on. Nick followed, playing around with the bow, pulling the string, examining the curve.

"Right now we're just practicing technique," I explained. "Oh, here, you'll want one of these." I pulled off my arm guard and threw it to him. He just barely managed to catch it.

"Um…" He looked at me helplessly. I stepped closer to him and took his left wrist in my hand, causing him to jump.

"I'm assuming you're right-hand dominant?" I asked. He nodded silently. And there it was again—he was blushing. I tried not to frown. What was wrong with him? Was I doing something that was embarrassing him? Was I just always doing something wrong when I was around him? "It'll protect your arm from getting a friction burn as the bowstring launches the arrow forward and whips back." I explained as I put on the brace.

Once I was done, I demonstrated the proper technique to him and let him work on it. I made my rounds, to make sure the others were still doing all right. After our mid-class break, I let them start using arrows. It was a little more nerve-wracking because people, dryads, satyrs got shot accidentally all the time. I tried to avoid those mishaps as much as possible, but they were unavoidable every now and again.

When I finally got back to Nick, he was frowning at the pile of arrows lying half-way from the target.

"Let me see you draw an arrow," I requested. I saw him swallow and shift nervously, his face reddening again, before he pulled another arrow from his quiver and nocked it. I did a quick once-over. "Fletching."

Nick lowered his bow and arrow, and looked at me. "What?"

"Fletching," I repeated, taking an arrow from my quiver and pointing to the three tail-like feathers at the end of the shaft. "When you notch your arrow, you want to make sure that the third fletching is sticking out otherwise your arrow will be thrown off its course." I put my arrow back in my quiver and signaled for him to lift his bow and arrow again.

Nick nodded and turned back to face the target, checking his fletching and then lifting his bow and arrow. I slowly walked around him, looking at the position of his arms, his shoulders, what his hands were doing.

I stopped on his left side. "Okay, let the arrow go," I requested. He did I asked, but not before giving me a long side glance, and the arrow took a nose dive into the ground half-way from the target. I tried not to wince. Or laugh. It hadn't even gotten enough momentum to dent the dirt.

Nick made a clicking noise with his tongue, looking annoyed. "What was the purpose of that?"

"Notch another arrow," I said, ignoring him. He gave me a look. "You're activity doesn't end until ten. You're stuck with me until then. Nock another arrow, please." Even though it looked like he wanted to say something to that, he pulled another arrow from his quiver and aimed at the target again.

"What are you focusing on?" I asked. He glanced at me through the corners of his eyes.

"What?"

"What are you concentrating on?" I rephrased the question.

"Hitting the target," he answered.

"Well, don't," I told him. He lowered bow and arrow and gave me a quizzical look. "Raise it again." Giving me another look he did as I asked. "You're focusing too much on hitting your target when you should be focusing on your technique."

"What is that even supposed to mean?"

"For one, your shoulders are too tense. You need to relax."

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose?"

"No, you're hunching them." I examined the hand that was holding his bow. His knuckles were white. "You're also holding your bow way too tight."

Nick dropped his bow and arrow, letting out a big breath. He took a moment—and in this moment, I glanced at all the others who seemed to be doing pretty well at the moment—before raising his bow and arrow again.

"Shoulders are better, but you're still gripping your bow too hard. Here." I stepped toward him and stood on his left, right up next to him. Since he was about as tall as me, it made this easier. Not to mention he was kind of lanky. I was surprised his noodle-arms were even strong enough to pull the string back, if I was being honest. Though, you could never _really_ tell how muscular someone was.

I reached out and put my hand over his that was gripping the bow. "Relax your grip," I told him.

Instead, Nick tensed even more. He may have even stopped breathing. And if I wasn't mistaken, his face was redder than before. Was this embarrassing for him? Getting help from the teacher?

"The opposite of what you just did," I said, ignoring his reaction, not letting go of his hand. I saw Nick's throat move as he swallowed before forcing a breath out through his teeth. Finally, though, he managed to relax his hand. I slowly reached my arm around to rest my right hand on his right upper forearm.

"Okay, now lower your arm," I said, pushing down gently on his arm. Taking deep breaths, Nick adjusted his arm. I moved my right hand to hold his lower forearm and said, "Now use your mouth as an anchor." as I applied a little pressure to his forearm so his hand would move toward the edge of his lips. I let him get comfortable in this stance for a moment before saying, "Take a deep breath—in through your nose, out through your mouth—and as you're releasing it, let your arrow go."

I stayed where I was, with my hand still gripping the bow with him, and the other resting on his lower forearm, so as to not distract him by stepping away. I felt him take a long, deep breath, and like I'd told him, he let his arrow go as he breathed out. Nick's arrow didn't hit the bull's eye, but did manage to nick the edge of the target.

I stepped away and smiled at him. "Good job."

Nick frowned at the target. "I barely even got it, though," he muttered.

"Hey," I said, waiting until he looked at me. "Look at where your first tries are." I paused to let him. "Now look at where your last arrow hit. You've made a _huge_ improvement."

A small, lopsided smile spread across Nick's face. "Yeah…I guess you're right." he turned back to me. "Thanks."

"Of course." I turned back to the rest of the class, to see how they were doing, only to see they'd all stopped what they were doing to stare at me and Nick. I paused. "Are you having trouble with something?" I asked them, wondering why they were staring at me. At us. "Do you need help?" I prodded, when none of them had answered. "You're starting to worry me now."

Will laughed suddenly, making me jump, before exclaiming, "All right, nothing left to see. We've still got a few minutes left of the activity."

Like magic, the rest of the kids shifted and moved, raising their bows and nocking arrows again. I looked at them confused before going over to Will.

"What was that all about?" I muttered, watching as his arrow hit the edge of the target again. There were several other arrows in the same vicinity. At least he was consistent.

Will notched another arrow. "You know…I'm not really sure." He let his arrow fly, it hitting where the others had again. I narrowed my eyes at him as he groaned in frustration, not quite believing his words.

Will ignored my glare, so I sighed and checked my watch. "Well, looks like it's about time to clean up." I got the attention of the class and they started to clean up, gathering the still usable arrows and putting them back in their quivers, before returning them to the bale of hay I'd set them on before the beginning of the class.

* * *

I was prepared for Nick to be late again for the elementary swordsmanship class, but was pleasantly surprised to find him waiting in the arena fifteen minutes before. Just as well, I realized we needed to find him a suitable sword. Sometimes it was hard to find one that was balanced just right, but close enough was good enough. If he wanted, Nick could ask the Hephaestus cabin to make a custom sword for him.

After finding him a sword, he helped me set up the rest of the ones I used for class.

"I'm surprised you showed up," I told him honestly as we were setting up.

Nick was quiet for a moment and when I looked over at him, he kept his gaze on his shoes. His face red again. I frowned, wanting to ask him about it, but I didn't know him well enough to feel comfortable _to_ ask.

"Because of what happened in archery class today," I elaborated.

"What!" Nick exclaimed, making me jump. "No, no, you really helped today and I appreciate it. I think I'll have a better time with swordsmanship. Archery is hard. No offense."

I relaxed. "Archery is hard. But swordsmanship is also pretty hard. And don't think I'm going to go easy on you, either," I joked.

Nick half-snorted, half-laughed. "Of course you wouldn't."

"You're obviously not a child, so I'm not going to treat you like one," I said bluntly.

"Fair enough."

I stood as the class started to file in, to greet them. Class seemed to go all right. I partnered Nick up with Ivan (he hadn't left quite yet, having convinced his mortal mom to let him stay a little bit longer), and he did seem to be doing better with a sword than a bow and arrow. So, I turned back to another sparring pair to help one of them with a certain maneuver.

I heard a shout and turned back around just in time to see a sword falling, point down straight at Ivan, who was now lying on his back on the ground of the arena. My heart jumped in my chest and I started toward him, but Nick was closer. Nick leaned over Ivan, shielding him with his body. I watched in horror as the sword pierced Nick's shoulder, through and through, but Nick's body was enough to stop the sword's momentum. It didn't even touch Ivan. Thank goodness, too, because from where I was standing it would have hit Ivan right in the middle of his face.

I don't remember moving, but suddenly I was at Nick's side, whistling for my siblings. Kayla and Austin came forward immediately, and pulled Ivan out from underneath Nick, whose knees buckled. I put one hand on Nick's chest to keep him upright as I pulled the sword from his shoulder. Will handed me a towel as I dropped the sword and I pressed it up against the front of Nick's wound. I kept my hand pressed up against the back.

I looked up at Will. "In my bag," I said. "There should be a baggie of ambrosia. Can you get a square for Nick?"

Will's eyes narrowed at me for a moment before he did as I asked, quickly breaking off a square from inside the baggie and bringing it over to me and Nick.

"Here, eat this," I said as Will held out the square.

"I don't—"

"Trust me, just eat it," Will said, holding it out further. Nick stared at it for a long moment before reaching up with a shaking hand and taking the square of ambrosia. He paused before eating it. I waited thirty seconds after he'd swallowed to remove my hands.

"Hold still," I instructed. "I'm going to check to see if it's healed all the way." I pulled at the tear in his shirt where the sword had pierced him and examined his skin underneath. It looked fully healed. I slipped my fingertips underneath his shirt—Nick made a small yelping noise, but I ignored him—and applied pressure.

"Does that hurt?' I asked, looking at him. I almost clicked my tongue. There he went again, going completely red in the face.

"Um…no," he mumbled, meeting my eyes for a split-second before averting his gaze again.

I removed my hands, but stayed kneeling next to him. "Are you feeling sick still?"

Nick shook his head silently.

I let out a breath. "Okay. Good." I stood and turned back to face the rest of my students were had gathered a few feet away, but keeping a light hand on Nick's shoulder to make sure he didn't fall over. "I think we've had enough excitement for today. I'm going to end class early. But this is an important lesson to keep in mind. When you're sparring, keep your senses open and be aware. Ivan, I'd like to talk to you for a few minutes. Class dismissed."

As the class returned their swords, I rinsed my hands of the blood with one of the water bottles I kept in my bag, before drying them on my jeans. Ivan approached warily, looking ashamed.

"You're not in trouble," I assured. "I just want to know what happened, to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Ivan explained to me that he'd tripped and his sword had flown from his hand in such a way that it arched before falling straight down. So, what sounded like a freak accident. I assured Ivan of this before letting him go. I turned back to begin pack my things up in my bag and clean up when I noticed that Nick was still in the arena. He was sitting on one of the bleachers, holding a water bottle. Reed and Cressida were sitting next to him, making small talk, probably to take his mind of his first injury.

Will was waiting by my bag, arms crossed. His face was unamused. Sighing, I trudged over to where he was standing. I did a quick inventory of what was in my bag. The only two things missing were the water bottle Nick was currently holding, and…

I held out my hand expectantly. Will uncrossed his arms and dropped the baggie of ambrosia into my palm and I threw it back into my bag before zipping it up.

"I hope you're not—" he started.

"I'm not," I interrupted, glaring at him through the corners of my eyes. "I keep it in there for emergencies like these. That's all."

"If you're having trouble—" Will tried again.

"I know," I snapped.

Will turned to face me. "Look, I promised not to tell anyone about what happened in the Hypnos cabin, but if things start getting bad—"

"I'm fine, Will," I interrupted once again. "My dreams haven't been bad. I'm not lying, I swear on the Styx, it's only in there for emergencies. I'm handling my pain."

Will sighed and turned away, crossing his arms again.

"Fine." He paused. "For now."

I rolled my eyes at his comment as I slung my bag over my shoulder. "Thanks, Will." I murmured, going over to Nick. "You gonna be okay?" I asked. Nick lifted his head, his cheeks turning red. The grip on his water bottle tightened.

"Uh, yeah, yeah, I'm just…taking it all in," he mumbled. "Though, don't know if I'll be coming back to this class." The edge of his lips quirked up in a small smile to tell me he was joking.

I couldn't help but smile, grudgingly, back before turning and heading to the exit. "I'll see you tomorrow!" I called.

My siblings, who had stayed behind, followed me out. Though I think Reed and Cressida stayed with Nick to make sure he got back to his cabin all right.

"You'll tell me, right?" Will asked, half-way to our cabin. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"It's not really like I need to. You'll know," I muttered, gripping the strap of my bag.

"That doesn't make me feel any better," Will said an exasperated voice. "You're _terrible_ at telling us when you can't handle something anymore."

"I just…don't want you to worry about me, you guys have enough to think about," I explained.

"Oh, yeah, because we don't worry _more_ when we find out you tried to"—Will stepped closer to me and angrily whispered the rest—"erase your memories by using water from the river Styx in the Hypnos cabin."

I opened my mouth to respond but Austin started speaking.

"Hey, looks like we've got a visitor," he said, pointing to our cabin, which had just come into view. I followed Austin's gaze and noticed a small, dark figure standing on our porch, a little off to the side.

I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a better look as we got closer to our cabin.

"Nico?" I questioned, blinking in confusion. I hadn't seen Nico…well, since the last time I'd been ordered to retrieve something for Mr. D in the Underworld. Which was quite a while ago. At least a month, when the gods had gone silent.

I jogged the rest of the way, not wanting to keep him waiting any longer than he already had, and took the steps onto the porch two at a time. I grabbed the porch railing to steady myself as I turned to face him.

"Hey," I greeted with a small smile. Nico nodded, giving me a small smile of his own. He looked uncomfortable, though. I wasn't sure if it was because he was at camp or if he wasn't used to being next to something so bright…no offense to him. He wore his usual black jeans and t-shit with his aviator jacket, and his sword strapped to his side.

"Did you need something?" I asked when he didn't say anything.

Nico opened his mouth to answer, but then his eyes flickered to my left and he closed his mouth, frowning. I turned to look over my shoulder to see my siblings, including Cressida and Reed, standing at the base of the stairs, waiting.

"Do you mind?" I asked.

"No, please continue," Lyra said, none of my siblings moving. I glared at them and they quickly scurried past me and into the cabin.

Once the door closed, I looked back at Nico. "Why don't we…go take a stroll?" I suggested, glancing at the windows to see the curtains flutter.

Nico nodded silently and I led the way down the stairs and started to make my way to the stables, just because it was across camp, away from my snooping siblings.

Once we were a few yards away, Nico spoke up. "I just wanted to come, um, check up on you. It's just…I haven't seen you in a while and I was starting to…well, worry. I wanted to make sure everything was okay."

"Oh." I blinked, surprised. I mean, we'd formed some kind of…friendship, maybe, by hanging out so much. Honestly, though, I didn't think it was a strong friendship, just because I mostly talked to him about coping with a death, or didn't talk at all. Of course, there were times when we'd chat about random things, too. But that wasn't often enough for me to think we were close or anything.

"Well," I started. "I'm sure you know about the gods' sudden silence, right?" Nico nodded. "Since Mr. D was called back to Olympus, he hasn't given me any more…assignments since. That's why I haven't been in the Underworld lately. I meant to IM you at some point, but things got busy and then kind of crazy with Percy's disappearance, then Jason's sudden appearance, oh, and the Roman camp, which I'm sure you know about already—"

Nico jumped like I'd just shocked him and exclaimed, "What?"

I gave him a strange look. "You know, you're…what was it, sources? I'm assuming from the Underworld?"

Nico relaxed. "Oh, right, yeah. Of course. Uh, continue."

I gave him another look, wondering what that was about, but didn't push it. "Anyway, things got really busy and I guess contacting you kind of slipped my mind."

Nico stopped walking abruptly. He had a sour look on his face.

"I see." He muttered. "That's all I wanted to know. I'll leave now." He started to turn away. In an instant, like getting struck with an arrow, I realized he may have misconstrued what I'd just said.

I almost reached out to grab his arm, but knew he didn't like contact much, and quenched that urge.

"Wait." I said. But Nico continued to walk away. "Nico." I tried again. Afraid he was going to disappear into a shadow at any moment, I gritted my teeth and half-shouted, " _Nico di Angelo!_ " That finally got him to stop and I relaxed, letting out a small breath. I jogged up to him. He seemed unsure, but I was glad he stopped nonetheless. "If you have a little time, do you think you'd be up for some hot cocoa at the Big House? We can catch up and I can explain why things have been so busy for me."

Getting the cocoa ready wasn't easy—thankfully I only had to pass through the front room to get to the kitchen. Nico didn't mind sitting out on the porch of the Big House, and didn't ask questions, either. That's what I really liked about being in his company, he never asked prodding questions. He didn't expect anything from me. It was a nice change, a nice break from the rest of camp.

After getting settled, I recounted all that'd happened since the gods had gone silent. Once I'd gotten talking, though, it surprised me just how much _had_ happened. A month didn't seem like such a terribly long time, yet so much had occurred. I even told him about my bad days, and what'd transpired recently—my dreams, Gaea, and my stunt in the Hypnos cabin.

That was another thing about being with him. I felt like I could be open and honest with him about my struggles because I knew he wouldn't judge me or worry about me, or fuss over me. He just knew, he understood, and he listened. That's all I wanted sometimes.

"I guess, also, part of me thought…" I hunched my shoulders and looked away a little embarrassed. "Well, I wasn't really sure if we were friends or not. So I was hesitant to just give you a random IM one day to tell you I was fine."

"I'd like to be friends," he said with a small smile. I couldn't help the answering smile from spreading across my lips.

"So, what have you been up to these past few weeks?" I asked, taking a sip of my cocoa.

Nico explained he'd mostly been hanging out in the Underworld, going on individual missions (having learned Gaea was, indeed, trying to awaken), and how even he hadn't had contact with his father since they'd been called back to Olympus. I was a bit suspicious about how vague his answer seemed to be, but didn't press him. Now wasn't really the time. Besides, it was just a hunch. It was up to him how much or how little information he decided to divulge to me about his personal life.

"Oh, Bob says 'hello,'" he added. "He misses you."

I blinked, stunned, before laughing. "Well, when you see him again, tell him 'hi' back for me." I'd only interacted with Bob on occasion, not every time I'd gone to the palace for cocoa. I still couldn't believe that he was a titan-turned-janitor. It was strange to see such a happy-go-lucky titan, since my only memories of titans were…negative, to put it nicely.

"I'll be sure to," Nico promised, smiling. A genuine smile, not a fake one, not one of his creepy ones. His cheeks lifted and his eyes crinkled around the edges. And I realized how little he actually, genuinely smiled. It made me sad to see such a young boy who didn't smile like that all the time.

"You know, you're always welcome at camp," I blurted.

Nico's smile faded and he looked away, pursing his lips. I didn't fail to notice his hands grip his mug tighter. "I don't…I don't know." He mumbled, looking down at his mug.

I paused. "Do you want me to be nice or honest?" I asked.

His head snapped up and he met my gaze cautiously. "…honest?"

I took a deep breath. "I think whatever your perceive about the camp and the campers here is just of your own mind," I explained. "And…I'm not trying to say that what you feel is invalid. Because you're feelings _are_ valid. What I'm saying is that from my perspective, at camp, you're a hero. A young boy who was brave enough to stand up to his father, Lord of the Underworld. A young boy who helped defend Olympus by his father's side and with an entire undead army.

"I teach a lot of the younger and newer campers. They hear the stories from their siblings, those of us who were in the war. I hear them ask around—sometimes they ask me—if they'll ever be able to meet this boy." I paused to let him take it in for a moment. "I'm not saying you have to live here. Or make it your permanent residence. All I'm saying is that you _are_ welcome. Just something to think about a little, okay?"

Nico blinked, his face blank. Either he was really good at hiding his emotions, or he didn't quite know how to process what I'd just told him.

Finally, he blinked once more very slowly, his face clearing. "Um…okay."

I wanted to snort and respond with, "That's really all you have to say? _Really_?" but bit my tongue. I had a feeling he wouldn't take to that well. He didn't seem to like jokes that much. Especially with something so personal. Changing your perspective on something as big as whether or not you're accepted in a group you're _supposed_ to belong to would be hard.

We finished our hot cocoa in silence. I looked out across the camp, watching campers move to and fro. I was also keeping my eye on the time, though, because I did have another class soon.

After a few more moments of silence, Nico stood. I stood, too.

"Heading out?" I asked.

Nico nodded, looking around the camp, hopefully in a new light. "Uh, yeah. I…I have some stuff to take care of. You know, Underworld stuff. The usual."

"I'll take your mug for you," I said, holding my hand out. He gave it to me before starting toward the stairs to the porch.

"I'll see you around?" I asked.

Nico paused, his back to to, so I was unable to read his expression. Slowly, he turned to look at me over his shoulder with a lopsided smile. "Yeah…yeah, maybe you will."

I couldn't help the smile that broke across my face. "I'm glad."

Nico's smile grew slightly bigger before he headed off the porch and started immediately toward a shadow, disappearing within it. I only hoped without anyone else, his thoughts wouldn't revert back to his old thinking. Maybe I'd IM him every once in a while as a reminder.

I went into the Big House and quickly cleaned out the mugs and put them in the drying rack before heading back to my cabin to prepare for my next class. I was a bit late, but thankfully, the only people in the advanced archery class were my siblings. Well, and one child from the Athena cabin. But at least a majority of my students wouldn't be annoyed at me being a few minutes late.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, got that little archery scene at the beginning from the _Princess Diaries 2_. Because I am shameless. And then the sword injury scene from _Vampire Knight_. ~~Gotta give credit where it's due. Honestly, though, I hate that anima/manga, but I find myself watching it anyway. I mean, usually just for white noise, but still. I have so many other options, and yet…I always go back to it. It's actually quite frustrating. Anyway, /tangent.~~
> 
> Not as long as my usual. Still not sure how I'm feeling about these chapters. Though this time it may be because I'm in a weird place right now—too much all at once.
> 
> But hey, Nico's back…sorta. More to come for sure, though ;)
> 
> I actually wanted to get a few balls rolling in this chapter, but felt this was a pretty good stopping point. These next few chapters are going to be a bit more laid back, not as edge-of-your-seat, escaping-death like the others have been. Rest assured, though, that will return. (Poor Tori, though. I'm sure she's thankful for these few chapters of reprieve. Boy do I have stuff in store for her!)
> 
> Also my, needs-validation-and-positive-reinforcement-like-a-plant-needs-water-and-sunlight is kicking in _~~real strong~~_  again. Comments are much appreciated ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	20. The Greatest Card Trick in the World

"Leaving so soon?" Kayla asked as I stood up from the table. It was lunch time and I'd just finished eating my lunch.

"I need to sharpen my weapons," I explained. "And take some pain meds." I muttered before head away from my table and discarding my dishes in the dirty dishes pile. My chronic pain was acting up today. The last few days it'd been okay, with spikes here and there, but something I could ignore if I focused on training and teaching. Today it was like it had shifted to a higher frequency and wouldn't come down, making it harder to ignore.

As soon as I got back to the Apollo cabin, I took some pain meds and then quickly grabbed my sharpening stone from my chest. I went back outside to sit on the steps of the porch. I wanted to be outside and enjoy the fresh air. I also liked to be aware of what was going on around camp. It made me feel less anxious.

I'd stolen this stone from a hardware store when I'd gone on one of Mr. D's missions and had extra time before having to report back to camp. After having that fallout with the Hephaestus cabin, I figured I wouldn't be able to enter the forge or ask any of them to sharpen my weapons. Thankfully I'd done this plenty of times before, so it was almost routine, like riding a bike. It was easy to pick back up.

I finished my dagger fast enough, giving it a quick wipe-down with an old rag. I sheathed it and set it beside me, and began to work on my sword. My cabin mates returned a little while after, heading inside, probably to relax a little before their next activity. A few minutes later, I heard someone approach, their footsteps soft in the grass. I glanced up briefly to see who it was and was surprised to see Leo. Even so, I didn't think he was coming to talk to me, so I went back to sharpening my sword.

He stopped at the edge of the steps. I looked up briefly, wondering why he'd stopped.

"Uh…hi," he said after a moment of silence. I ignored him, thinking maybe one of my siblings had come out and I'd been so busy ignoring him I hadn't noticed them come out.

"Look, I'm used to pretty girls ignoring me, but you're taking the cake," he commented after another moment.

My hand, holding the stone, froze and my head snapped up. I blinked, confused. I looked at Leo for a moment before looking to see if there was anyone else around us that he could possibly be talking to. Then I looked back at him, still confused, before slowly turning to look over my shoulder to make sure there wasn't anyone behind me. Finally, I turned back to Leo and pointed at myself, just for good measure.

Leo laughed. "…uh, yeah. You're the only one here. I mean, I assume." He lifted his hands and shrugged. "Do Apollo kids have ESP or something?"

"No, actually, you're looking for the Hades cabin, just down the way," I said, pointing down the line of cabins to my right.

Leo grinned and nodded. "All right, you've even got a sense of humor."

I snorted and shook my head. "You're way too young for me, kid." I started sharpening my sword again.

"You know you could just…go to the forge to get that sharpened. Much quicker," Leo commented.

I paused in my sharpening for a second, glancing up at him. Had his cabin not told him? Had he not heard the rumors? Or asked? I mean, that would explain why he'd come over that night with Harley. Then again, if he'd come over, I had no doubt his cabin would've tried to stop him. So he had to know at least _something_ about me. At the very least that his cabin hated me.

I went back to sharpening, keeping my eyes fixed on my sword.

"Surely you have more important business building that ship of yours," I said a little crisply, ignoring his comment.

"I found a small break in my schedule," Leo answered, shifting his feet. "And don't call me Shirley."

I looked up, startled. "I didn't—" I started before realizing he was making a joke. I raised an eyebrow before going back to my sword.

"…just trying to break the ice," Leo mumbled awkwardly.

"I think you'll come to find rather quickly why most people around here think I should stick to ice," I told him sourly, running the stone over my sword perhaps a bit too aggressively. I paused and took a deep breath before continuing with less vigor.

"Well, hey, you're in luck," Leo exclaimed, causing me to look back up at him. He was grinning again. "Because I can wield fire." He snapped his fingers and his first finger lit up with a small flame. "And if I recall correctly, fire can melt ice."

I blinked, stunned. Was he really trying to befriend me? I was so used to his cabin glaring at me, spitting venom whenever I tried to interact with them, and this was such a shift in what I characterized his siblings as, I was reeling. Maybe it hadn't been fair to just lump him in their hatred of me, but how else was I supposed to protect myself from hurt if he _had_ listened to his siblings? It made sense, though, his actions, if he hadn't been here for the war. Hearing about it and being there were two different things.

The door behind me opened up and my siblings came spilling out.

"Hey, come on, it's time for our activity," Reed said, as he passed by me, followed by the rest of my siblings. They passed by Leo without a second glance, as if this was completely normal. Reed's comment broke me from the strange world I'd entered.

"Oh, shit," I exclaimed, standing up and quickly sheathing my sword, looking around for my dagger. "Nick is going to give me grief if I'm late," I muttered, snatching up my dagger and running back into the cabin to throw my stone back into my chest. I almost took more pain meds because the ones I'd taken a bit ago didn't seem to be working but managed to stop myself. They probably just hadn't kicked in yet. Still, the prickles were starting to become a bit overwhelming, so I threw the bottle of pills into my bag before exiting again, closing the door behind me.

"Sorry, I have to go teach a class," I told Leo as I came down the steps of the porch, about to run off to catch up to my siblings.

"Hey, that's cool. Come by Bunker 9 if you've ever have some time," Leo said quickly, shoving his hands in his pockets and hunching his shoulder, like he was embarrassed.

"Uh, yeah…okay, sure. I'll…see you later." With that I ran off not wanting to waste any more time. I didn't know that I'd be visiting Bunker 9 any time soon. I was really just stunned that Leo was talking to me at all. And there was no way he hadn't heard _something_. Yet, despite that, he still approached me.

My siblings had told me that Leo's appearance had seemingly removed the curse of the Hephaestus cabin. Maybe he'd also help mend my relationship with them.

* * *

Nick was waiting in the arena when I finally arrived, ahead of my siblings. I'd sprinted ahead so I would be able to set everything up (which I _knew_ I would regret, but I was too prideful to let the pin-pricks get in the way of not being late to my own class). Thankfully, none of my other students had arrived yet, either.

Nick stood as I entered, panting, and I noticed him shove a deck of cards into his pants pocket.

"Are you going to be all right for the activity?" he asked as he came up to me. "You sound a bit more out of breath than you should be."

I straightened, still catching my breath, and glared at him, but made sure that he knew I was joking, too. Kind of. My glare may have been a bit strong because I was in pain, but I quickly asked, "Oh, so we have another comedian today, do we?" as I went over to where we stored some of our assortment of swords. I quickly picked out Nick's, keeping the point aimed at the ground, and went back over to him. "Well, joke's on you, pretty boy," I said shoving the hilt to his chest and leaning in. "Because you're going to be my sparring partner today."

Nick's face went pale, his eyes wide, and he swallowed hard. I slowly released the hilt as he reached up to take it, and went back over to the small armory to get the rest of the swords set up just as my siblings came in, followed by the rest of my class.

I started those who weren't my siblings with dummies, and my siblings with each other. It was kind of like Will in the elementary archery class in that they were better than the rest of the class, but weren't good enough to move up a level. I also really needed to just sit down and breathe.

When sparring started, I was almost glad I hadn't finished sharpening my sword. I was very careful when sparring, but accidents did happen. Especially when you were working with sharp objects and in pain. (Though, I'd have to go and finish sharpening it immediately after class or it was going to get on my nerves.)

Nick was a fast learner when it came to maneuvers and footwork, but he kept letting his guard down. I got him in the ribs and stomach with the flat of my blade more times than I could count. By the time I called break he was sweating and his exercise-induced asthma was acting up.

He let out a grateful sigh when I stopped the class, and fell to his knees, using his sword to keep him upright.

I sheathed my weapon, letting out my own small sigh of relief, and went up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay? You're breathing sounds a bit ragged." I asked in a joking tone.

Nick lifted his head slightly to glare at me over the rims of his glasses, but his bottom lip pushed out ever so slightly. I had to stifle a laugh. He was pouting!

"Seriously though, if you're not feeling up to the rest of the class, just say so and I'll let you go. I don't want you to make yourself sick." I gave his shoulder a squeeze before going over to the water jug to grab some water and take some pain meds. When I turned back around, Nick had laid down, eyes closed, his chest still heaving.

My siblings approached me, their own cups of water in their hands.

"You holding up okay?" Will asked quietly over the rim of his cup.

"I'm fine," I muttered in the same low voice, bringing my own cup to my lips.

"Could've fooled me," Will threw back. I narrowed my eyes and lowered my cup, glaring at him.

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

Will's eyes flickered over to Nick, who was sprawled out on the ground, before going back to me.

I looked at him, prompting him to explain further.

"Looks like _someone_ is taking their anger out on the new kid," Cressida commented. I turned toward her.

"That's not fair—" I tried.

"Did he piss you off, then?" Lyra asked, looking at Nick with pity.

"Guys—" I tried again.

"It's probably both," Austin snorted.

"Knowing Victoria," Kayla added, nodding.

The rest of my siblings murmured in agreement and I fumed quietly. They were so infuriating sometimes.

I quickly downed the rest of my water before calling the class back to order. Being the merciful teacher I am, I let Nick take a longer break by using one of my siblings to demonstrate a new move to the class and then sparring with them to demonstrate it in real-time. Afterward, I worked on it with Nick until the end of class. I was honestly surprised at how determined he looked to learn the new maneuver, but was glad, too. Whatever had been plaguing him yesterday—what with this constant nervousness being around me—had seemed to either gone away completely or at least died down.

Once I dismissed the class, Nick stayed back and practiced the move with his sword as the rest of the students put away their swords. I threw the strap of my bag over my shoulder, glancing at the exiting kids. My siblings were lingering in the entryway, but I waved them off. Once I was sure they were gone, I went up to Nick who was putting his sword away.

"Hey, I was—" I broke off when he jumped and spun around, nearly falling into the small armory. His face flushed and he gulped. So much for getting over his nervousness. Maybe he'd been so focused on learning the new trick he'd forgotten.

I gave him a strange look before continuing slowly, "I was wondering what you were doing with a deck of cards," I told him. "Do you just…like to play card games or something?"

Nick relaxed, an easy smile spreading across his lips. "Oh, actually, I like magic."

I laughed, looking at him to make sure he wasn't joking. "Really? You like magic? Of all things?"

Nick frowned, his bottom lip jutting out slightly again. "What's so funny?"

I shook my head, chuckling. "Nothing, it's just…isn't that kind of ironic? You being a child of Hecate and all."

As the thought occurred to him, his face cleared and he smiled again. "Oh, yeah…I guess that _is_ kind of funny." He looked away, embarrassed. What for, I wasn't really sure.

"So…can you show me a trick then? With your deck of cards?"

Nick thought about this for a moment before he finally looked back at me. "Yeah, sure. I need a flat surface, though, so let's go over to one of the bleachers." I nodded and we walked over to the lowest bleacher, with Nick behind me. He had his deck of cards out when we stopped.

"This is called 'The Greatest Card Trick in the World,'" he said, fanning the cards out in a near perfect circle in his left hand. "Pick a card."

"The 'greatest,' huh?" I asked raising an eyebrow as I reached out and took a card. Nick simply smiled.

"All right, look at it—don't show me," he said. I'd picked the five of diamonds. "Okay, got it?" I nodded. "Hold onto it. I'm going to strip cards from the top of the deck, and you're going to tell me when to stop." He held the cards between his thumb and middle finger of his right hand, and started taking chunks of cards from the top with his left, dropping them into the palm of his left.

After a few moments I told him to stop.

"All right, now I want you to put your card on top," he said holding out the cards in his left hand. I set my card on top of the rest resting in his palm, careful not to show the face. He set the remaining cards from his right hand into his palm as well, effectively covering my card. "Okay, now watch." Nick held the deck out and snapped his fingers. "You'll notice that one card in this deck reveals itself to us," he said as he spread the cards out in a line on the bleachers. I didn't see anything different about the cards, but as Nick poked through, spreading them further a blue-colored back appeared among the red-colored backs. I tried to hide my astonishment, but I was a sucker for magic.

Nick glanced up at me and smiled before splitting the deck where the blue card was, stacking the cards he'd just split underneath the rest of the cards, leaving the blue on top. He held the deck in his left hand.

"You remember your card?" he asked. I looked up at him and nodded. "And was your card…" He lifted up the blue card with his right hand and spun it between his thumb and middle finger in a sort of sleight of hand movement. "The five of diamonds?"

I nodded, a smile breaking across my face. "How did you—?" I started but he put the card back onto the pile and held up a finger.

"It gets better." He grinned. I narrowed my eyes, but my smile remained. He removed the blue card again, setting it face down on the bleacher. "Why don't we just leave the five right there? Now I'm going to take cards from the top of the deck again and I want you to say stop at any point." I waited a few moments before telling him to stop. He brought the two piles together momentarily, picking up the card from the top of the pile in his left hand with his right. "Okay, so let's take this card, the"—he held out the deck in his right and showed me—"Queen of hearts." Nick put the two piles back together and straightened them out. "Watch what happens when I snap my fingers." Like last time, he snapped his fingers before spreading them out in a line on the bleachers. "A card should reveal itself…" He trailed off, poking through the deck, but this time a blue card didn't appear.

Nick looked up at me frowning, his eyebrows furrowing. I waited, wondering if he'd just messed up his trick. "It doesn't look like it's here…and the only card that's changed is…" He pointed to the blue card that he'd set aside earlier, face down.

There was no way.

Nick picked it up and revealed the Queen of hearts. I quickly snatched the card from him, examining it closely. There was no way! Yet…it was a regular old card.

I narrowed my eyes at Nick, who was smiling, and lowered the card in my hand. "How do I know you didn't use _real_ magic to do that?"

Nick raised his right hand. "I swear on the Styx that I don't use Hecate's endowed magic when I perform any magic trick for you or anyone else." Thunder rumbled in the distance. I frowned. You couldn't beat a swear on the Styx.

I handed the card back to him. "All right, that was pretty cool. Looks like you've been doing this for a long time."

Nick shrugged, putting the cards back into his pocket. "Since I was six," he mumbled, blushing.

"Wow, you started young. Why aren't you some famous magician already?" I grabbed the strap of my bag and started to head out. Nick followed suit.

He sighed. "My parents, well my dad and step-mom, they want me to be a doctor. I don't want that, so we compromised. They think I'm going into forensic science. But I practice magic in any free time I can find and hopefully, if I prove that I can make money from that, they won't hound me anymore. I'm still taking classes, of course, but I love magic. I always have."

"I'm sorry about that," I mumbled, not really sure what else to say. I was jealous, honestly, that he even had parents. Even if his situation sounded kind of shitty.

Nick shrugged. "It works for right now, the setup I've got going. I am going to prove to my parents that magic is a legitimate career, though."

I smiled. "I'm sure you will." We stopped in the green. "I have to get to my other class. But I'll see you around."

"Yeah, uh…thanks for letting me show you that magic trick." There he went again, blushing. I swear, any more of it and he was going to pass out because of the rush of blood to and from his face.

I gave him a lazy salute before running over to my cabin to get ready for my advanced archery class. My body was _definitely_ going to be angry by the end of the day.

* * *

I was supposed to meet with Lou Ellen the same day Nick had shown me that magic trick, but because my pain had been bad, I'd taken my free time to sleep. After being forced to attend dinner, I'd gone back to our cabin and slept more. Thankfully, though, it was at a manageable level today and Lou had found some free time, too.

We were at the archery range. Will and Cecil, a son of Hermes and one of Will's closer friends, had tagged along. Will was there for moral and medical support and Cecil _said_ he was there for moral support too, but I had a feeling he was lying. I didn't know him very well, he hung out with Will more, so I'm pretty sure he was really there to see me fail.

"Can I see your rune?" Lou asked. I held up my arm and she moved her hands to grab my wrist. I jerked back reflexively and she froze. "Uh…do you mind?" she asked, moving her hands forward slightly.

I swallowed hard and shook my head. "No. Sorry, jerk reaction." Lou nodded before slowly moving her hands forward and taking my wrist lightly with her left hand, the right hovering over my wrist. She muttered something before moving her right hand in a circular motion, almost like she was doing a magic trick (fake magic). My rune lit up bright white like I'd seen in my dream and when I'd gotten angry at Drew.

Lou looked at it with an intense expression, like it was talking to her. After a few moments of this, the glow faded and Lou released my wrist. I immediately brought it up to my face to examine it closely and rubbed my thumb over the mark. I hadn't felt anything while she'd done it, but wondered what exactly she'd done.

"Well?" I asked, my eyes going over to her while I lowered my arms. She had a contemplative look.

"Well," she echoed, letting out a breath. I waited, my worry growing the longer she thought. "Obviously you haven't broken the contract. From what I understand, it looks like you've tuned it to your emotions. Tell me about what happened with the Aphrodite cabin?"

I quickly recounted the events of that afternoon, leaving out certain details of course, and then, just for good measure, told her about my dream. I hoped she wouldn't freak out that Gaea had visited me. (She didn't.)

"I should've seen this coming and taught you better," Lou muttered, rubbing her forehead. "Magic is finicky and since it's already tuned into your emotions, it's going to take a lot of work on your part to take back your control of it."

"I thought you said it would give me a small amount of magic to help with telekinesis and Mist," I said.

"Yes, well…it's complicated," Lou replied. "You're a demigod so you have the potential to _learn_ certain types of magic. Being a child of Hecate means we have a natural affinity for Mist-work, but we can do magic that other demigods can't without help, like your rune, like casting spells and charms. We could probably learn sorcery quicker than most demigods if we wanted to. Any demigod can learn how to use the Mist. And any demigod can practice sorcery. But the magic that Hecate uses, aside from the Mist, is special to us. Does that makes sense?"

I looked at her blankly, trying to work through all she'd just told me.

"The point is, just because you have a rune with a contract, doesn't mean you can't do more magic than the rune allows," she said. "It's more like…an amplifier. At least, when it comes to manipulating the Mist. The contract is for safety reasons."

"Safety reasons?" I asked.

"My mother would get in loads of trouble with Zeus if he found out she'd been handing out runes to any demigod that asked."

"Okay, so let me get this straight," I said. "The rune allows me _some_ magic that's specific to Hecate. Does that mean if I get emotional only the Mist will respond?"

"Kind of…" Lou gave me an apologetic look. "Like I said, it's complicated. Both the magic that you can wield and the Mist react when you get emotional, but the rune doesn't distinguish between the two. That's where you come in, you have to be able to manipulate each one separately. Even though you don't have a lot of magic capabilities, it sounds like in combination with the Mist it could be dangerous for those around you."

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, my head starting to pound and my chronic pain acting up because I was getting stressed. Taking a deep breath I opened my eyes again and looked at Lou.

"Okay, so where do we start?"

Because it seemed that my rune reacted only when I was emotionally aroused, she had me think about anything that made me extremely angry. This wasn't hardship, with Drew's confrontation still in the front of my mind, it was easy to combine that with my anger at _anyone_ who used charmspeak and get myself worked up.

As I did, the area around the archery range started swirling with Mist. There wasn't as much as when I'd originally been angry, but Lou said it was enough. My rune started to glow again. It seemed though, Lou was using her own magic to keep the Mist contained around the archery range.

She then instructed me to try and distinguish the two types of magic—the one that allowed me some telekinetic abilities and the one that controlled the Mist—without losing my anger. Which was considerably hard. It went against everything I knew, because to be able to concentrate on such a distinction you needed to focus, but emotions clouded thoughts and judgement.

Trying to get a feel for the two different types of magic would take the whole session. By the end I was mentally and physically exhausted. My chronic pain was so bad, I had to lean on Will as we went back to the Apollo cabin.

A couple of weeks passed and I continued to work with Lou on controlling the Mist and training my rune to not respond to my emotions, but still use my emotions to give me the strength to use magic. Needless to say I was frustrated and angry a lot of the time because I was having trouble making that distinction. Not only that, but my pain _really_ didn't like the stress I was putting on my body.

I'd also picked up dagger training with Annabeth, now that she was back. I didn't want to get rusty, and she was the best with a dagger at camp. However, the more time passed, the more I realized that the bond we'd formed when Percy first disappeared was slowly diminishing. Not to say that we weren't friends, but as the days passed, I noticed her hanging out with Piper more often. She rarely came to me about dealing with Percy's disappearance either, instead she ventured into Manhattan to visit Percy's mom.

I'll be honest, I was a little hurt, but I should've seen it coming from a mile away. I was upset, but not surprised. I was glad, though, that she didn't seem to hate me anymore. We could still laugh and talk about normal girl things, about training, battle plans, sometimes how she was handling Percy's absence, but it wasn't often. We didn't routinely hang out like I saw her do with Piper.

I was just glad I was able to help her through a rough time and make a difference. Even if it was only for a little. Speaking of making a difference, though, I'd managed to get through to another young demigod.

I was in the middle of my elementary swordsmanship class when everyone slowly stopped what they were doing, like a domino effect. One of the kids stopped suddenly, his eyes widening, lowering his sword and the rest followed. My cabin mates were whispering to each other, but everyone was looking in the same direction. I turned in that direction and noticed a dark figure standing in one of the entrances to the arena.

A smile broke across my face and I went up to greet Nico.

"Hey, it's good to see you," I said, making sure not to invade his personal bubble, which, I'd noticed, was a lot bigger than others'.

Nico gave me a small, nervous smile. "Am I…interrupting something?" he asked in a low voice.

I looked back at my class who were waiting, whispering to each other before I turned to face Nico again. "Not at all. In fact, I was just about to call a break anyway." I started to turn away, and gestured toward the arena with my head. "Come on." I didn't look to see if he was following me, but I heard the echo of his hesitant footsteps. "Class, I'd like to introduce you to Nico di Angelo, son of Hades."

I stepped aside and allowed Nico to step forward a bit more. The murmurs among the younger campers rose in excitement.

"I told you!" one whispered to their friend.

"It _is_ him!" another whispered.

"Would you mind answering some of their questions?" I asked, looking over at Nico, who was so nervous he looked sick.

"Um…no, I-I guess not—" Nico managed before one of kids shot her hand up but didn't wait for me to call on her.

"Is your sword really all black?" she asked.

Nico looked down at the sword at his side before unsheathing it slightly to show them. "Uh, yeah—"

"Why does it look like that?" a boy asked.

"Um, I forged it from stygian iron—"

"Is it true it sucks the essence of monsters instead of dusting them?"

"Yes, it does—"

"I really like your shirt!"

"Oh, thanks—"

And so it went, they continued to ask him question after question, with a comment interspersed here and there, barely giving Nico time to answer or respond. Nick and Ivan hung back, chatting with my siblings. I stayed by Nico's side, to give him some comfort in front of a group of such eager kids. And to make sure they didn't invade his personal space. I'll admit it was a little amusing seeing Nico look so shocked at such positive attention. (And then sad, because I realized he only looked confused _because_ he didn't get that often or at all.)

After I don't know how many minutes, they started crowding and asking questions all at the same time. I held up my hands.

"All right, all right," I said over their voices, getting them to quiet down. "The break's over. It's time to get back to work."

"Will you spar with him?" one of them asked. The rest of the kids agreed enthusiastically.

"Um…what?" I asked. I really shouldn't have been surprised, and yet, here I was, stunned at the request.

"I want to see you spar with Nico!"

There were choruses of agreement again and I looked warily over at Nico. The situation was akin to when they'd wanted to see me spar with Percy, and I was afraid they might peg me as boring again, honestly, if I didn't agree.

"Would you mind?" I asked, still looking at Nico.

"Um…well it'd be good practice, I guess," Nico muttered, reaching up to rub the back of his head. "I…I haven't sparred with a living person in a…long time." He lowered his arm and shrugged, looking as uncomfortable as I felt.

"Who do you spar with usually?" Ivan called from where he was standing with my siblings.

Nico hunched his shoulders and frowned, looking away. "The dead."

There was a long pause and I waited, hoping that hadn't put anyone off.

"Whoa, really?" Ivan asked, coming closer to our group. "That's really cool! So do you, like, summon skeleton warriors or something? Or…can ghosts fight? Do they even have substance?"

Nico's shoulders relaxed and he blinked, looking over at Ivan, surprised at his reaction. I had to stifle a smile.

"Um, yeah, skeletons," Nico answered. "Even if ghosts did have substance, my sword would suck up their soul, so I wouldn't spar with them."

"Could you—" Ivan started excitedly, but Nick came up to stand beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Wait, you're distracting from the question: Will you spar with Victoria, Nico?" Nick asked, shooting me a glance, smirking.

I narrowed my eyes at him, but his gaze had gone back to the boy beside me.

"If-if that's what you guys want—" Nico started.

"It is." Nick assured, nodding. I gritted my teeth, shooting daggers at him. He ignored me.

"And if it's okay with Victoria," Nico said, looking at me. I quickly dropped my glare and looked over at the son of Hades.

"Why not?" I sighed.

Even though I'd managed to avoid causing my chronic pain to flare up suddenly, I was afraid this might do it. When I fought, I didn't usually think about what I was doing when in the heat of battle. I mean, aside from avoiding the moves that I _knew_ for certain would cause me pain, I had to focus on the battle. And there were so many moves in swordsmanship.

"You sure?" Nico asked.

It was a pride thing again. I didn't want to be seen as a kill-joy. "I'm sure." With that, my siblings came forward and ushered the kids back, giving me and Nico room. We walked a few more paces apart, and unsheathed our respective swords.

I faced him, taking a deep breath and gripping the hilt of my sword. I nodded to tell Nico I was ready whenever he was. After a moment, he nodded as well before coming at me and striking like a cobra.

I can't recall a time I'd seen Nico fight, but he was well-trained. Not as good as Percy, definitely not as good as Luke, but he was small, fast, and strong. When I got close enough, the aura of death and fear exuded from him and I noticed the dark, purplish glow of his sword even more. It did throw me off a bit.

However, it was a fun challenge to adapt to his fighting style and the aura aspect. Ultimately, though, I was better. I saw an opening and disarmed him. He lost his grip and his sword clattered to the arena floor, leaving his unprotected chest open to my sword's point. We were both breathing hard.

My own sword slipped from my hand, suddenly, and my knees unexpectedly buckled. The prickle's heightened to such a deafening degree, I almost thought I'd done something wrong to trigger it. I heard muffled voices, but the static was too loud. I felt my heart beating in my chest frantically as I struggled for breath, as I struggled to dispel the pin-pricks. At first, I thought it wasn't going to die down, but after a few more gasping breaths, it started to quiet.

I could see and hear again. My pain was still pretty bad, but not bad enough I wouldn't be able to function until I could back to my cabin, at least. I'd have to end the class early again, though. And probably skip my next class, unfortunately.

Nico was kneeling right in front of me, my siblings around him.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I'd told him about my chronic pain, so he didn't need to ask what was wrong or what happened.

"I will be," I assured, my breathing still a bit ragged.

Nico nodded, needing only that, to which I was grateful for. He stood, my siblings followed, and, to my surprise, offered his hand. I took his gratefully and carefully got to my feet. Cressida was instantly at my side, supporting me with an arm around my waist while Reed grabbed my sword and handed it back to me. I sheathed it and looked at Nico.

"Sorry for ending on such a sour note," I apologized.

Nico smiled. "No, it's fine. These things happen. I…had fun." He picked up his own sword and sheathed it.

I smiled back. "Good. I'm glad. I have to end the class and get back to my cabin before I completely collapse. So, I'll see you around soon?"

"Yeah." He smiled. "Yeah, you will." With that, he nodded and headed out of the arena.

"By Mr. Nico!" one of the kids called, followed by a chorus of goodbyes. Nico turned at the entrance to wave at them before disappearing.

"Okay, class," I called weakly. "I'm cutting it short. Dismissed." I sighed, and put my arm over Cressida's shoulders, leaning into her even more.

"We'll clean things up," Reed said. "You should get back to the cabin."

"Thanks," I said gratefully before Cressida started to lead me out.

"Wait, Victoria!"

I stopped, holding Cressida up and looked over my shoulder. Nick had started to approach us, but Kayla and Austin stepped into his pathway. They said something to him and his eyes flickered back to me momentarily before he turned away, frowning. I turned forward again and together, Cressida and I headed back to our cabin.

Of course this would only happen when I had an audience, _and_ when I was sparring. _Again._ My chronic pain had such impeccable timing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, so didn't have to wait too long! I think, anyway. I've kind of lost track of time. That happens when I don't have a set schedule. Speaking of, I'm on winter break _and_ , since my college has a Jan term, which I don't take, I'll have all of January off, too! Yay! Doesn't guarantee more or faster updates, but at least I won't have to worry about balancing fanfic with school and homework.
> 
> Not much else to say other than describing magic tricks is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I'm excited to expand on this side of Nick, though, because I, too, love magic. Also, I hope I described the magic part all right. That was also a difficult part for me. Finally, I hope it doesn't seem too OOC for Nico to offer his hand. I know he doesn't like other people touch him, but it was for such a brief moment, and him and Tori have grown pretty close (to be fair, most of it did happen off screen, so to speak). But anyway…
> 
> Got a few more balls rolling, got a few more to come. Stay tuned!
> 
> Comments are very much appreciated ^_^
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	21. Over the Hill and a Great Way Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gods, I'm such a horrible person. A fan wrote two one-shots based around ITPS and I didn't even mention it in my last chapter! One of them was even gifted to me!
> 
> They're on this site by [lucifersfavoritechild](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lucifersfavoritechild/pseuds/lucifersfavoritechild). One is an AU called [Scars](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8823247), and the other is from Luke's POV during Chapter 24 called [Please Don't Leave Me](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8900980). You should totally go check them out. I'm just over the moon that someone loves my stories so much that it's inspired them to write these one-shots. So thank you! I'd also like to thank you for your lovely, thought-out comments! ^_^
> 
> While I've got you here, I'd also like to give a special thanks to Queen-of-Ice101, over on FF, because she also leaves such lovely, thought-out reviews that I always look forward to reading, and that always make me smile. Thank you, too!
> 
> All right, with that, forward march!

I was just exiting the arena when I heard, " _Psst!_ " coming from the woods. I froze and looked at them warily, my hand going to my sword. I couldn't see anyone. As I've stated before most of the campers here—demigod, nympth, and satyr alike—knew not to sneak up on me or surprise me in any way, lest I attack them. So whoever was trying to get my attention was pushing their luck.

"Over there," they stage whispered. I was too far away to determine which direction the voice was coming from, but doing another scan of the woods, I saw movement to my left. Someone was peeking out from behind a tree, waving their hand. I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a better look at who it was. They continued waving. Looking around to make sure no one else had noticed, I started toward them.

As I got closer, I noticed it was TJ, and was thoroughly confused. It'd been at least a month since the three newbies had arrived and saved Hera (I still hadn't visited Bunker 9, and it seemed Leo had gotten caught up in building the ship, he didn't have much time to talk to me again). I saw TJ around camp and sometimes we'd chat, but since I didn't go out on extraction missions anymore (I was afraid Gaea hadn't repealed her reward for my death, despite my dream), I didn't interact with him for long periods of time.

Side note: speaking of dreams, I was starting to get them again. Demigod dreams. Not just that, but they were most likely prophetic dreams, as children of Apollo got (we also got feelings and flashes, too, if you were wondering). This one involved music, what sounded like a child's nursery rhyme. Unfortunately, only the melody played, there were no lyrics, so I couldn't determine what it was. (My mom didn't sing nursery rhymes, she sang music from her generation or requests from me.) This came along with the feeling of helplessness and a grainy vision of what I thought was a flower as it'd been shot on a very old camera. It was too out of focus to determine what kind of flower. All I knew was that it was yellow.

Anyway, I finally got to TJ and was about to ask him what was with this cloak-and-dagger thing he had going on when he quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me behind the tree. I tensed and struggled not to react instinctively and accidentally hurt him.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

TJ ignored me and instead asked, "This is your free period right?" releasing my arm and looking over his shoulder, around the tree to check for…something. Probably someone, but no one was around that I could see.

"Why are we whispering?" I asked in a whisper.

TJ's eyes darted around. "The trees have ears."

I sighed. "We're in the forest," I deadpanned in a normal voice.

" _Shhh!_ "

I gave him a look, a bit put out at his shushing. "If you wanted to go somewhere more private, maybe you shouldn't have picked a forest full of tree nymphs."

"That won't be a problem. I just want to make sure we're far enough away," TJ responded, looking around again.

"Far away from what? TJ, what's this about?" I crossed my arms.

"Let's take a walk, then I'll tell you." TJ started to clop away, but I moved to stand in front of him.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what this is about," I told him.

TJ looked uncertain and pained at the ultimatum I was giving him but he finally sighed. He looked away, reaching a hand up to rub his arm, shifting on his hooves. If I wasn't mistaken, he was blushing. Finally, he mumbled something, but it was too quiet for me to hear.

"TJ," I sighed.

"A tree nymph, it's about a tree nymph," TJ finally exclaimed, dropping his arms and clenching his hands into fists. His face had gone completely red.

It took me a moment to comprehend what he was talking about it. When I did, I was shocked that he was coming to _me_. For…relationship advice. Of all things. I knew he knew my story, and I just couldn't believe he thought, me, out of everyone here at camp, would have the best advice for dating. _Me!_

"Wouldn't someone from the Aphrodite cabin be better suited for this discussion?" I asked.

TJ looked away again. "The Aphrodite cabin scare me."

I wanted to laugh, but it got caught in my throat as I thought of Drew and Piper. Maybe it was unfair to lump Piper into Drew's category of mean, but all I needed to know about her was that she was a charmspeaker. "Fair enough." I looked around and let out a breath. "But why me?" I asked, looking back at TJ. "There's got to be a much better option at camp than _me_ , of all people. Not even in the Aphrodite cabin. One of your satyr friends? Or any of the nymphs as camp. I'm sure they'd be happy to help."

"I don't want my other friends making fun of me or pushing me to do something I'm uncomfortable with," he mumbled, looking down at the ground. Suddenly, TJ's head snapped back up and he looked at me like he'd just realized something. He blinked, looking stunned or…surprised?

"What?"

TJ started like he'd been shocked. "Well I just thought—" he broke off, frowning.

"That I'd be the best option because of my relationship with Luke?" I prodded. "Because if that's the case, you might want to sit down and reassess your life choices."

TJ's frown deepened. "No. It's just that Nick—" He broke off again.

I jumped at Nick's name. Why was he mentioning Nick? I mean, sure these past few weeks, I'd been hanging out with him after elementary swordsmanship. But that was only because I wanted to see a new magic trick. He always delivered. I really enjoyed getting to see him doing what he loved, because he _wasn't_ blushing or stuttering or nervous. It was a nice change. I didn't have to worry about doing or saying something wrong and causing him to turn red in the face.

"What about him?" I asked carefully.

TJ lifted a hand, weakly pointing at me. "You mean you and him aren't—" He broke off yet again, his eyebrows furrowing. I wanted to scream. "Never mind." TJ shook his head and lowered his hand. "Why don't we just…talk about my relationship struggles—" TJ tried to head off, but I blocked his path, reaching out to grasp his upper forearms.

"No, wait, what? We're not _what?_ "

TJ blushed, his eyes full of regret. I glared at him, staring him down. I kept my hold on his arms.

"Notacouple," TJ finally mumbled so quickly, all his words jumbled together.

My hands dropped and I took a step back. " _What?_ Has he been telling people that?" I growled. "He won't be for very long." I started to head out of the edge of the forest, grabbing my dagger and unsheathing it.

TJ ran in front of me, holding out his hands. "No!" he exclaimed, trying not to trip as he walked backward because I was forcing him to. "No, he hasn't said anything like that." I stopped, not quite believing him. "I swear on the Styx, he hasn't been saying anything about you guys being together." I huffed before sheathing my dagger. Now I was agitated and worked up.

TJ relaxed, lowering his arms. "It's not like he has to anyway," the satyr muttered, looking at a bush.

"What does that even mean?" I snapped.

TJ looked back at me, his eyes wide in surprise. "You don't see it? You…honestly don't see it?"

"See _what?_ What are you talking about?"

"It's so painfully obvious—"

"Well not to me!"

"He is crushing _so hard_ on you," TJ half-laughed. I straightened up, for I'd been hunching my shoulders in frustration, and looked at TJ, bewildered. I suddenly felt lightheaded and stumbled. I automatically reached out for something to steady me and found a boulder large enough for me to sit on. In a daze, I sat down, looking around at the forest to my left and the camp to my right.

I just…couldn't believe someone had a crush on me. It was hard to fathom. Not just because it seemed impossible that someone could seemingly fall in love so fast, but also that I could ever love someone else again after Luke.

I knew, just because Nick had a crush on me, that didn't mean I had to like him back. Still…it just didn't register in my brain that someone _liked_ me. Had he heard anything of my predicament? Of my part in the war? What about Luke? What had his siblings been telling him about Luke? And my relationship with him, especially?

"Oh, I should've never even mentioned it," TJ groaned, pacing.

"I just…just need a moment to sit and think about this," I said in a weak voice.

"Okay, great. But do you think you could sit and think about it further into the forest, maybe?"

My eyes slid over to him so I could glare. He grinned, equal parts shit-eating and nervous. It was actually quite impressive.

I shook off my shock and my swirling thoughts, physically waving my hand noncommittally. "It's just a crush. He'll get over it." I quickly rationalized, standing. "What…what relationship stuff did you want to talk to me about?" I locked away this new information, I'd think about it later. Or, potentially, not at all.

"Come on," TJ said, heading further into the forest. I followed, looking behind me to make sure no one had spotted us for how long we were standing at the edge of the woods, and tried to follow us.

Once I determined no one had seen us, I faced forward and walked alongside TJ quietly.

We reached the river before he finally stopped. We found a dry spot close to the bank of the river and settled down.

"It's a tree nymph," he finally said quietly. "Wait, did I say that already? I said that already, didn't I? Well, anyway, her name is Willa. She's one of the willow trees near the lake. You know the one hanging over the water. Her flowers are a gorgeous pink during the spring. I've seen her gossiping with the water nymphs. She's really outgoing and likes to chat with everyone as far as I can tell. She talked to me once, I was so nervous I didn't hear half of what she was saying." TJ laughed, then realized this or that he'd accidentally said too much and abruptly stopped. Blushing he glanced worriedly at me.

"Look, if this is too painful or something, because I know that you…well, lost Luke, then you don't have to listen to this." TJ rubbed the back of his neck nervously, continuing on in a rushed voice. "You were right, I shouldn't have come to you. I don't know what I was thinking." His hands flew out in front of him as he got animated. "I mean, we're friends, right, and that's what friends talk about? Friends help each other out, give each other advice?" He turned to look at me again. "We _are_ friends, aren't we? I didn't just jump to an uncomfortable conclusion, did I?" I opened my mouth to respond, but TJ's eyes widened in horror and he turned away, putting his head between his hands.

"Oh my gods, I did, didn't I. The only time we really interact is on missions. I'm so sorry. You probably don't want to hear about my personal life. Much less my _relationships_ —" I put a hand on TJ's shoulder and squeezed, to make him stop.

Slowly, he lowered his hands from his head and looked over at me with nervous eyes.

I gave him a small, sad smile. "We're friends." I assured, removing me hand from his shoulder. "And if I'm being honest, it hurts sometimes." I looked away, out across the river. I was suddenly reminded of the time I'd first learned of Luke's betrayal, when he'd almost killed Percy.

"To see people so happy with their significant other," I continued. "But just because I lost Luke doesn't mean others should have to suffer like I have." My voice lowered. "Like I still am." I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. "Ah, sorry, that got a little…well, anyway, I don't mind you coming to me at all." I looked back at TJ and gave him a slightly bigger smile.

TJ looked at me for a long moment. I couldn't read the expression on his face. Shock, maybe? Or…was it some sort of wonder? A mix? It was hard to tell.

"Thank you," TJ finally said with so much emotion behind his words, I was stunned. TJ looked away. "The problem I'm having is getting to know Willa better," he murmured in a low voice, his nervous energy practically gone, subdued. "I want to so badly, but…I'm scared that she won't like me back."

"Well, I mean, you'll never know if you don't try," I told him honestly. TJ let out a choking noise. "Did…did I say something wrong?"

TJ looked over at me with an odd expression before he burst out laughing. I frowned, confused.

"What's funny?" I asked.

"You're just…you're just very…blunt," TJ managed through his snickers. "I just…wasn't expecting it. I mean, I'm not sure _what_ I was expecting, but that certainly wasn't it." He fell into another fit of giggles.

I still didn't quite see what was so funny, but at the very least, I no longer felt insulted. I'd gotten enough comments about my bluntness from my siblings, I knew this about myself.

TJ was wiping his eyes when he finally calmed down.

"Oh, gods, I'm so sorry," he said, some snickers escaping now and again. "I guess…I guess I'd stressed myself out about this more than I thought."

"It's all right," I murmured. His laughing fit had given me time to think. "I may have simplified it a bit, I'm realizing. I honestly don't know what to tell you about _how_ to start talking to her more. Try and find something you love so much that you don't even remember to be nervous to talk to her about, maybe?" I suggested, briefly thinking of Nick before quickly locking away that problem again. "If you'd like, I can come with you to help…break the ice…" I trailed off, thinking about my chat with Leo, then. I was still pretty sure, I did better with ice.

"Here's what I know," I finally said, looking down at the flowing river, letting the sound of the water running over the rocks soothe me. "You have to be brave. Even though you're scared. You've got to find the strength to push through that fear and open up. It's true, what they say, that opening yourself up to the good also means opening yourself up to the bad. The bad seems…so much worse." I paused, swallowing hard. I felt bile build up in my throat, and tears flooded my eyes.

I blinked to dispel the tears and continued in a thick voice. "But the good is a million times better." I had to stop again, bracing myself. I felt so exposed. "My time with Luke was…very short," I managed, my lower lip trembling. I reached up to wipe away some stray tears and took a deep breath to keep the sobs at bay. "But it was…one of the best times of my life. And…" My voice lowered to a whisper. "I wouldn't trade that for _anything._ "

I blinked, tears spilling from my eyes. I took a deep, steadying breath. TJ was silent, letting me recover. I was grateful for that. When my hands stopped shaking and my heartrate slowed, I let out another small breath before looking over at TJ.

"Does…does that help?" I finally asked, glancing at him through my peripherals. He was staring at the river. Slowly, he blinked once before turning his head to look at me. I turned my head, too, to face him directly.

"Yeah," he said in a soft voice. Blushing, he cleared his throat and spoke a little louder. "Thank you. I…I have some thinking to do. If…if I need to talk…"

I smiled. "You can come to me."

TJ gave me a relived smile. "Thanks. I'll…see you later." He stood, brushing off dirt from his backside.

"Yeah, I'll see you later." I watched him go, disappearing into the trees. Once he was completely out of my line of sight, I turned back to face the river and let my emotions wash over me, taking deep breaths, letting my tears fall. I curled in on myself, pulling my legs to my chest, and burying my face in my arms that were resting on my knees, as my sobs resurfaced.

* * *

I went up to the bronze brazier to scrape some of my food into the flames, more out of habit than anything else. If I had a decision that wouldn't get me killed, I would have chosen to stay at my table and just eat. As it was, I was more afraid Mr. D would punish me for not honoring the gods than Apollo. So I continued to offer tribute.

I wasn't really paying attention to anyone else around me, but across the flames of the brazier, a voice floated toward me. I stiffened and my eyes slid up to her as she said, "Victoria, just the person I was looking for."

Drew gave me a smile. To anyone else it would look harmless, a friendly smile exchanged with a camp-mate. But I could see the venom in her eyes, to me it looked like the grin of a snake. My alarm bells went off, but I struggled to keep my mask of indifference and turned.

"Go away," I muttered. I heard the scuffle of quick feet and suddenly Drew was there again, standing in front of me, holding out a hand in a stop gesture, coming this close to physically touching one of my arms. She must've known, though, not to touch me. I'd probably snap if she did.

"That's not way to treat a fellow camper, is it?" she asked in an innocent tone, but it was too loud, she was purposefully projecting her voice.

I could hear the dining pavilion still around me. Conversations died down, silverware stopped scraping against plates, the people at the brazier stopped shifting.

I glared at her, wondering what she was up to, not trusting the look in her eyes, the tone of her voice. " _Go. Away._ " I tried to get past her, but her next words froze me to the spot.

"I wanted to ask you why you don't go to the climbing wall with the rest of your siblings," Drew said. I gripped my plat to keep from dropping it.

"That's really none of your business," I hissed. I could feel my heart racing in my chest and I glanced at the rune on my wrist. With more practice, I was becoming better at controlling it, but I was afraid in a real situation I might lose the control I'd worked so hard to gain. Not only that, but my chronic pain was acting up again today, so I wasn't in the mood for Drew's pettiness. Which also made it hard to concentrate on control.

"Actually," she responded, nearly shouting. Not like she needed to. She already had the camp's attention. "I think it _is_ my business. And your siblings' business. I'd even argue it's the rest of the camp's business."

"What are you going on about?' I growled through gritted teeth.

"Drew, please," Chiron said, maneuvering his way out from behind the head table and making his way over to me and Drew. "If you have a problem with scheduling, come see me. I am the activities director."

Drew ignored Chiron. "All I'm saying is that I think it's unfair that you don't have to do the climbing wall at all anymore," Drew exclaimed, shrugging. I felt the charmspeak wash over me, leaving an overly sweet aftertaste in my mouth. "When the rest of us have to do it." Around me, I heard people start to whisper and mutter. Chiron slowed his trot until he'd stopped completely.

Piper was the only one not entranced, probably because she knew what charmspeak felt like, too. She stood, her every-changing eyes hardening.

"Drew, just sit down," she hissed, her hands balling into fists. Piper may know how to handle Drew in private, but in public? That was a whole different battleground. Drew simply ignored Piper, only momentarily giving her attention by way of a snide look before facing me again.

"These are special circumstances, Chiron cleared it," I defended myself.

"Oh, so you're _special_ now, are you?" Drew asked.

"No! I didn't say that—"

"I believe that technical term for what you _claim_ you have is…" Drew looked away, pretending to think, tapping her chin with her pointer finger. "Chronic pain?"

My breath left me as if someone had just literally stolen it and my plate almost fell out of my hand. The world grew silent. She'd just told the whole camp something so personal, something I didn't want _anyone_ else knowing, other than the people _I chose_ to tell, I felt betrayed. I wasn't sure why, because it wasn't like I _trusted_ her…but maybe I expected more from her than I should have, like common decency.

Furthermore, how did she _know_? How did she figure it out? It couldn't have been one of my siblings. Not Nico, either. He was good at keeping secrets. Nick didn't know, despite his inquiries about what'd happened the day I'd sparred with Nico and collapsed afterward. Maybe…one of my siblings had accidentally let it slip to the wrong person. That seemed the only explanation.

Maybe she had charmspoken to them.

I felt the anger appear and start to slowly grow.

Drew's words rang in my ears and I realized something. I forced myself to come back to the real world and focused in on Drew, my eyebrows furrowing in resentment.

"And what's that supposed to mean? 'Claim to have'?" I repeated, bearing my teeth in a snarl. I could feel my anger growing ever more, and with it the magic and Mist. Like I'd practiced with Lou, I tried to split my concentration—one part focused on controlling the magic and the other part on what was happening now.

"Exactly what it sounds like," Drew retorted haughtily. "I think it's a cop-out. I think you just don't like the climbing wall and wanted to get out of it. It's not like you can _prove_ you've got chronic pain or anything. Even if you have, you're being kind of wimpy about it. Take some ambrosia or something and push through."

Blood roared in my ears, I could feel myself shaking. I wasn't even sure if I was still controlling the magic anymore. At the same time, I felt frozen, paralyzed even. I wanted to move, to shove her, sock her in the nose, yell at her, anything to stop her from talking more, but it was like there was a disconnect between my brain and my body. I thought these things, but nothing was translating to movement in my muscles.

Drew continued, seemingly unaware of my growing rage.

"Does it have something to do with the first time you fell off the climbing wall? At the end of this past summer? Couldn't use grief over Luke any longer and realized you needed some new excuse?"

The line between my brain and my body reconnected with an audible snap. I felt it. I heard it. I threw my plate down and lunged toward Drew, but was held back by two of my siblings, who rushed forward as soon as Drew had mentioned Luke.

" _Let go of me!_ " I screamed, fighting against them. Turns out, two wasn't enough. I broke free and started toward Drew again, who'd taken a few steps away, eyes wide with fear. _Real_ fear. Good.

But I didn't make it far before my other siblings had stood and pulled me back. They were are holding onto me now, hands on my arms, arms around my waist. Their hands, their arms, my struggles… it was too reminiscent, too familiar—orderlies holding me down, strapping me to a bed like an animal.

My heart went into overdrive. My mind panicked. My emotions shifted so violently from rage to fear, I was left breathless and dizzy.

"Let go! Let go, please!" I gasped, still struggling, but my tone had changed. The way I pulled against them became desperate. They immediately recognized this and the weight left me. I lurched forward, toward the edge my cabin's table, leaning heavily on it. I was trembling, my heart racing, my breath gasping and ragged. My chronic pain had skyrocketed. I could barely think. My whole body wanted to collapse.

I put a hand over my mouth, squeezing my eyes closed, trying not to completely break down in front of everyone. This was a mistake, though, because I was having a panic attack, and already felt like I couldn't breathe. I turned and high-tailed it out of there, removing my hand from my mouth as I did.

I tripped a few times on my way to the Apollo cabin, but I forced myself to get back up. My vision was blurring, darkness closing in the more I ran. Despite my desperate gasps for air as I ran, my head felt like it was going to split open from the oxygen deprivation. I _had_ to make it back to my cabin, though. I wasn't about to collapse out in the open, for everyone to see.

I _refused_.

I managed to somehow get back to the cabin, but as I was going up the steps of the porch, my foot caught on one of them. I went flying forward, and hit the wooden floors painfully. What little breath I felt I had was knocked from my lungs. I didn't have the strength to get back up, but as I laid there gasping for breath, I feebly reached toward the door knob, my vision steadily going black until it covered my vision and I passed out.

* * *

The music started up again, a haunting, melancholy tune played on the piano. For some reason, it made my heart ache. Like an old Super 8 camera starting up, an image flickered in my vision before steadying out. The picture was clearer now. I still couldn't tell if it was a flower yet, but the outline of it was more defined than last time. Instead of being a yellow blob, it looked more like the shape of, presumably, a flower.

The melancholy vanished, suddenly, replaced by that horrible helpless feeling. The feeling I hated most. It reminded me of when my mom had been killed, or when Luke had died. Both times I'd felt so utterly and completely helpless to do anything to prevent the inevitable. And this frightened me. Every time I felt such crippling helplessness, it was when loved ones had died. Did that mean someone close to me was going to die?

I didn't want to think about it too much, because it only sent me into a panic. My brain first went to Dan. I wouldn't be able to handle life if he died. When I tried to rationalize my brain away from that, it went to any or all of my siblings. If one of them had died, I'd probably lose it, too. Out of everyone at camp, they stood by me, despite my reputation. Even if they didn't quite approve of Luke or my relationship with him, they didn't let that get in the way of my relationship with them.

I jerked awake with a small whimper. I couldn't think about my dream for too long because as soon as I'd fully awoken, prickles invaded my mind, wholly and completely. I could barely think, barely even breathe. I couldn't even get up and move to take some pain meds. All my mind could think about or focus on was the pain, the static, the noise. Today wasn't going to be a productive day.

Among the static, though, a thought burst to life: my chores. I felt my heart jerk in my chest, breaking up the pin-pricks every time my heart beat, pushing them away, only for them to come crowding back in.

What time was it? Was it the next day? Did I already miss the morning? Was I going to be punished any moment now for neglecting my duties?

I was afraid of Mr. D more than most anything in this world, so I decided I'd be getting up, despite the pain I was in. With a grunt, I pushed myself up, trying to get out of bed. My body didn't like this and I tumbled out of bed, rather than actually standing. Groaning, I pushed myself into a sitting position. By now, my siblings had approached me. They seemed to have just appeared out of nowhere, but I was also barely aware of most things that weren't immediately around me.

They got me to my feet and tried to set me back in bed, but I feebly struggled against them.

"No," I mumbled weakly. "No…chores. I have…" I trailed off, forcing breath through my teeth as the pain consumed me for a moment before dying down a little.

"We'll take care of everything for you today," Kayla said. She was squeezing my shoulder.

I shook my head, afraid they'd be punished for doing my chores. "I can't…"

"You need to rest," Will said firmly, pushing my back down onto the bed.

"It'll be fine for a day," Cressida assured soothingly.

I wanted to object more, but blackness was encroaching on my vision yet again. Giving in, I carefully laid back down, pulling my legs back up onto the bed, feeling like they each weighed a ton.

"Thanks," I mumbled, rolling over and closing my eyes, hoping I'd either fall asleep or pass out, whichever came first.

* * *

As the days passed, I avoided Drew and the Aphrodite cabin. After talking to Chiron about it, it was tentatively decided that I would no longer have to do cabin inspections, to avoid another confrontation. All my activities that had any of the Aphrodite cabin in them were rearranged, so they were no longer in my class. I felt a little bad, because the only Aphrodite kids in any of my classes were elementary archery and swordsmanship. Still, Chiron didn't want to risk it.

He also said he'd be having a stern talking to with Drew. I only hoped Drew wouldn't use her charmspeak on him. Though, I hoped, if she tried (because she struck me as the person who'd do that) he wouldn't be swayed. He was at least three centuries old, at this point, he should've been immune to a lot of magic that was similar to charmspeak as well as charmspeak itself. (Maybe it was me being too optimistic.) Chiron also assured me he'd have a separate talk with Piper about being a head counselor and making sure these things didn't happen, and if they did, to try and break it up, and how to go about it while keeping it civil.

To be quite honest, I wasn't keen on either of his strategies—I wasn't sure what a simple talk was going to do. Honestly, I was kind of angry we kept Drew here, with her history of abuse toward other campers because she knew how to charmspeak. Then again, it wasn't like Chiron to throw a demigod out and have them fend for themselves.

Still, Piper didn't seem like the type to be able to get Drew under control. Since they both could charmspeak, it wasn't like that magic was going to work on either of them. Maybe it would, but they'd be able to snap out of it faster than most, because they knew what it felt like, recognized that sort of magic.

Whatever the case, however, the damage had already been done. As I walked around camp I could feel people's stares on my back. Some of it was pity, some of it was disappointment or displeasure (they probably thought I was faking it, too), some of it was just out of curiosity. When I passed, they'd lean over to their friend and whisper something, eyes still on me. It was starting to get annoying.

Not only that, but I was and would always be angry at Drew for revealing something so personal. Why did she think she was so high and mighty that she could reveal someone's personal information? She needed to be knocked down a peg. Or fifty.

I decided I wasn't going to investigate how she'd found out though. It was a waste of the precious energy I barely had enough of from day to day. It didn't matter anyway, because the fact was that the information was out there now. Everyone knew. Finding out who'd told her, accidentally or not, wasn't going to change that.

Besides, I had more pressing matters to worry about, because my dreams—little did I know—were starting to affect me in a way I wasn't prepared for. Unlike my other dreams, I wasn't so nervous about staying up for as long as I could. It wasn't disturbing per se, but waking up with flashbacks of my mom and Luke's death didn't do me any good. Despite that, though, the rest of the dream seemed pretty innocuous.

Every night I had them, the vision becoming clearer and clearer until I could make out a daffodil. It sat in a black void, a light making it almost glow against the background. A small pile of dirt covered its roots, but the flower drooped as if it hadn't been watered in a while. The picture was just slightly out of focus, but not so much that it still looked like a blob.

I was unsure of what the symbolism there was. Maybe it meant something in flower language, but it wasn't like I studied that, so I didn't know. I was tempted to ask the Demeter cabin, but interacting with anyone at camp aside from my siblings and the kids in my elementary classes made me anxious. I didn't want to see their looks of pity or disbelief or curiosity like I was some kind of specimen. I didn't want them to snub me or insult me if I tried to have an earnest conversation, which had happened more often than you'd think.

So I set it aside, hoping that if I could take my mind off it for long enough, I'd have an epiphany about what it could possibly mean. Maybe something would be added to my dreams or they would become clearer alongside the flower.

Because the music played so often in my dreams, the tune would get stuck in my head. I'd unintentionally start humming without thinking about it. Sometimes, I was _very_ aware of it, and would even stop listening to my music to hum it, thinking maybe doing so would get it out of my head. Listening to other songs, for some reason, didn't seem to work. It only seemed to distract me from my task.

Strange things started happening, though. They were little at first, nothing to really catch my attention and hold it. Or to make them think there was a connection between these incidences.

It started in the morning, when I hummed the tune to Peleus as we watched the sunrise. He stilled, didn't even rumble contentedly every now and again like he usually did when I sang to him. When I'd finished to go clean the outside restrooms, Peleus shifted and shook his head like he was coming out of a trance.

As I cleaned the restrooms, the camp seemed silent. _Too_ silent, like nothing was moving at all. You know the kind of silence I'm talking about. It was like being in a classroom with people shifting, writing notes, the sound of people breathing, the sound of people even though no one was talking. It was like that with the camp, it seemed alive even if no one was talking. Tree nymphs and wind nymphs, only helped with animating the camp. When I hummed that tune, though, the camp stilled. The breeze stopped, the bugs, animals, and monsters seemed to freeze. As soon as I stopped, the movement picked back up.

The same thing happened when I was cleaning the stables, humming the nursery rhyme. The horses in their stalls stilled. They stopped neighing and whinnying. They were utterly silent and still. As soon as I stopped, they resumed whatever they'd been doing. They shifted on their hooves, shook their heads, whinnied and neighed.

At this point I was starting to get a little suspicious. Perhaps the song was enchanted? Could it be an Ancient Greek nursery rhyme? Or more like an incantation? Maybe that's why it wasn't completely affecting the animals, because I didn't know the words.

Still, despite my best efforts, I would catch myself humming the tune again and again.

It wasn't until the first kid showed up while I was doing laundry, did I really start to get worried.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don Dun. Cliff-hanger! (Hanging on a cliff!) Well, anyway. Here's the next chapter! Rejoice!
> 
> Again, ya'll should totally go check out those two stories by lucifersfavoritechild on AO3. I will link to them [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8823247) and [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8900980), again, so you don't have to scroll all the way up if you don't want to by. They're _amazing_ , and well-written. I thoroughly enjoyed them, and if you love my stories and Tori/Luke as much as I do, you'll definitely also enjoy these one-shots.
> 
> Not much else to say. Sorry for the total radio silence these past three days. I went on a trip to Vegas to celebrate my 21st and didn't want to pay for the wifi or have non-password protected wifi.
> 
> Title is taken from a version of "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son."
> 
> As always hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	22. Sunrise and Rain

I was just closing up one of the washers and turning it on when something bumped into me. I jumped, stopped humming, and stepped back, reaching for my dagger. When I saw who it was, though, I released my grip on my dagger's hilt and kneeled down to be more at their level.

"Hi, Wally," I said. "Did you need something?" Wally merely blinked, didn't respond. It was like he didn't even realize I'd asked him a question. That's when I realized that his eyes looked glazed over, almost like he was in a trance. I carefully put a hand on Wally's shoulder and squeezed it gently. "Wally?" I asked slowly.

Nothing. Total silence. I stood up and took a few steps back. Wally followed, bumping into me again. I looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. Outside, it seemed to be like another day. Mist wasn't invading the camp. I didn't hear any sounds of panic or fear, no screaming. Just the usual buzz.

The more I thought, though, the more the strange things that'd been happening while I was humming started to thread together, like the baskets the naiads in the lake made. It was the music! It had to be! The next question was if it was the song, or my singing. Or both.

I kneeled down again, and gripped both of Wally's shoulders. I shook him gently. "Wally, can you hear me?" I asked. Still nothing. "Stand out of it!" I snapped my fingers in front of his face a few times, but he just blinked and stared blankly at me. I tried to wrack my brain for a way to break him out of this spell. The problem was I wasn't sure exactly how he got into this state, so I wasn't really sure how to get him out of it.

I had a feeling that humming the same tune would only strengthen the trance. If speaking to him didn't do anything…maybe singing something other than that rhyme would work.

I frantically hummed the first tune, other than the rhyme, that came to mind. Wally's eyes cleared and he blinked, like he was just waking up from a deep sleep. Rubbing his eyes and looking around, he asked, "What…what happened? What am I doing here?" Wally seemed to realize I was holding his shoulder and finally looked at me. "Victoria?"

"Nothing," I sighed, relieved he'd finally come out of it. "Go back to your activity, okay?"

Wally gave me a strange look, but I forced a reassuring smile and squeezed his shoulders gently.

"Okay," he finally said slowly.

I let go of his shoulders and stood, taking a step away from him as he turned and headed out of the building. I let out a shaky breath and had to place both hands on one of the washing machines. My knees felt weak, my stomach was churning, making me nauseous, and my heart was fluttering irregularly in my chest. I closed my eyes as my world tilted, black encroaching on my vision.

For a long moment, I stood there, thinking I was about to faint. Thankfully, after a few moments of deep breathing it passed. I slowly opened my eyes again and was glad to see my vision was clear. I was still feeling a bit lightheaded, and now I was very aware of my chronic pain, but I think I could move without keeling over.

I needed to speak with Chiron. Immediately.

* * *

I found him at the arts and crafts building. I wasn't sure what he was doing there, because he didn't usually teach this class (no one really did, it was one of activities that didn't really need an instructor). But I was so caught up in my own worried thoughts, I didn't really pay any mind to this fact. All I knew is that I needed to talk to him.

"Chiron," I said, coming up to him, only to have him turn and say something to a camper. I followed him, yelling, "Chiron!"

He glanced at me and let out an annoyed noise. "Not now, Victoria, please." He then turned again, saying something to a different camper.

I followed, not deterred. "This is important, please—"

"Victoria, please, I'm in the middle of the something," Chiron interrupted, giving me a hard look. His eyes were gentle though. He could never truly get angry at a camper.

"Chiron, you don't understand—this is _really_ urgent."

"More urgent than a paint war?" he asked before trotting past me, almost knocking me over as he passed, and yelled, "Careful, careful, that's explosive!"

That's when I realized that the art building was in chaos. The younger kids had started what looked to be a paint war—it covered the walls, the tables, every available surface was splattered with paint _somewhere_. Now they were tearing the place apart, getting into everything and throwing it at each other. It was a miracle I didn't have anything on me, but to be fair they'd moved to a different corner of the room and had moved on from paint.

I looked over at Chiron who was taking a tub of something out of a girl's hand. I didn't know what was in it, but apparently it was explosive. Kids were still running around, screaming and throwing stuff at each other. I must've been so worried about whatever had just happened with me and Wally that I hadn't even noticed. Talk about tunnel vision.

Despite the chaos, I felt that my problem might take a bit more precedence over what was going on here. Unfortunately, the only way that I would be able to get Chiron's full attention was if the kids stopped what they were doing. How was I supposed to that? And quickly?

It was like a cold breeze blew in through the door, and I swear the earth shook underneath me. I shivered and felt goosebumps rise on my arms, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

_I could sing._

It was scary because it almost didn't feel like my thought, but it did occur to me that that nursery rhyme song might just get them to stop what they were doing all at once. Not only that, but as the thought had popped into my head, so did the words I'd been missing, almost as if by magic.

Without really thinking about it, I opened my mouth and began to sing the nursery rhyme. Even with the lyrics, I didn't recognize the song, but it had the effect I thought it would. More potent than when I just simply humming it, though. As soon as I started singing, the commotion died down. Objects fell from kids' hands and onto the floor, clattering in the sudden silence.

The kids stopped screaming, moving, and stood stock still. As I continued the song, they turned to face me, and by the end, they had all gathered around me, a staggered formation every few feet. Their heads turned up slightly so they could look at me, as if waiting expectantly for me to do, or say, something.

When I finished the song, I looked over at Chiron, who'd turned to face me. He hadn't moved from his spot, and it didn't look like the song had affected him at all. But I'd never seen him look so shocked before. Or…scared? It couldn't be, I was probably hallucinating, projecting my own fear onto him. He was centuries old, surely he'd have seen something like this by now.

"Victoria…?" he asked in a quiet voice. Too quiet for me to work out the tone. His face has morphed from shocked to a mask I couldn't decipher.

"This is what I wanted to talk to you about," I told him.

"What have you done?" His voice was still soft, but cut like a knife, his question almost feeling like an accusation.

"I don't know what's going on, and I'm scared," I admitted in a whisper, the whole situation so overwhelming tears flooded my eyes.

Chiron seemed to understand and nodded. He trotted forward, carefully stepping around the children as he examined their faces.

"They seem to be under some kind of trance," he muttered, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Because of your song. It sounds like a nursery rhyme, but it's not a tune I've heard that's used for spells to put people into trances." He continued to walk around, weave through the group. Despite his size and half of him being a horse, he managed it quite well. "And how did you discover this song." His brown eyes were on me, full of the ancient wisdom he possessed.

"A dream," I murmured. "The tune's been coming to me in a dream for a while now. The words only just now came to me."

"Why don't we talk about this at the Big House," Chiron suggested. "Is there a way to…break them from this spell?"

I nodded and quickly sang the first verse of the first song that came to my mind. Like with Wally, they all blinked, their eyes un-glazing. They reached up to rub them, like they'd just been sleeping, and looked around, confused. They started asking questions, and I looked at Chiron for help.

He commanded their attention, "You were playing with the art supplies, remember?" he said in a gentle voice. "And then Victoria arrived and you all went up to greet her. Now, your activity is almost done. I'd like you to clean up the best you can. Can you do that for me, please?"

They all started to nod and dispersed. They seemed more subdued after having been in that trance, quietly picking up the supplies. I was surprised they'd even listened to him for how much fun they'd been having a moment ago. Could the song not only put them into a trance but make them more suggestable?

A rock started to form in the pit of my stomach as Chiron approached me.

"Would you mind coming to the Big House with me?" he asked quietly.

"Not inside?" I replied in a small voice.

Chiron shook his head. "But somewhere private."

I nodded and swallowed hard. Chiron did a quick once over of all the children, who were still quietly cleaning up before trotting toward the exit. I followed, feeling just as subdued as the kids behind me. Our walk back to the Big House was utterly silent. I tried to get my thoughts in order. He'd probably ask how I'd come about this, or learned I could do this. I should probably tell him about my most recent dream. He already knew about my…issues with Gaea, so I wouldn't have to go over that again. Maybe, because of all his experience with demigods and gods and Fate, he'd be able to provide some insight.

We stepped up onto the porch in the front of the Big House, but went around to the side that faced the strawberry fields. It was quieter, and there was less chance of someone catching our conversation. Other than some satyrs and nymphs playing songs and singing for the plants, it was the next best place other than the front room in the Big House.

Thankfully for me, there was a deck chair. They weren't comfortable in the slightest, but merely sitting was better than being forced to stand. My chronic pain was acting up in reaction to the stress I was feeling.

I took a seat on the very edge, putting my hands between my thighs nervously, and looking at the wood of the deck, taking deep breaths. I was slightly afraid to have this conversation because it almost seemed that Chiron had blamed _me_ for something I didn't even know I could do, something I couldn't even really control. It almost seemed like, even after centuries, he hadn't seen anything like what I'd just done. That prospect scared me senseless.

I felt my heart rate increase as my thoughts spiraled. The world swam and my vision clouded. I lifted my shaking hands and cupped them over my mouth and nose, breathing through my mouth, using my hands like a paper bag. I was grateful for Chiron as he patiently waited out my panic attack.

"Start from the beginning, please," he requested gently when I'd finally gotten control of my breathing and lowered my hands to my lap. I looked up at him briefly before looking down again and telling him about my dream.

"I'm not sure what the flower means yet," I finished. "It has no personal significance to me."

Chiron stroked his beard as he looked out into the strawberry field, deep in thought. Finally, "Daffodils are considered a narcissus flower. But I'm not sure how much information that gives you, either. I'm positive Narcissus or his story have no significance to you, either."

"You'd be correct," I said. "So that really just leaves me with the nursery rhyme. Obviously it has some kind of effect on children. Maybe because it's a nursery rhyme meant for children, but…"

"But it's not an enchanted song or an incantation," Chiron filled in for me. "That we know of. Are you using your powers as the daughter of Apollo?" Chiron finally looked down at me, stopping the stroking of his beard and crossing his arms over his chest.

I met his gaze and shook my head. "It doesn't feel like it. I didn't feel exhausted after having sung just now."

Chiron's eyes flickered lower for a moment before coming back to me again. "Perhaps your rune is giving you the energy or magic?"

I shook my head again, looking down and stroking the small mark. "I don't think so, either. I know what it feels like when I'm utilizing it. I can feel the pull of magic." I looked back up at the old centaur. "That's what concerns me so much, Chiron, I don't think it has to do with Hecate or Apollo's magic."

"Yet, it sounds like magic may be involved somehow." Chiron looked back out at the strawberry fields, nodding. "That is apparent from today. Though, we do not for sure if nursery rhymes _aren't_ enchanted in some way."

I looked out at the strawberry fields as well, trying to think back on everything that'd happened to me so far. For some reason, I was blanking. Nothing seemed to be clicking. Did this have something to do with Gaea again? Was she somehow influencing my voice? I shuddered at that thought—it was as if I was suddenly being controlled by puppet strings, no longer in control of my own voice. Utterly helpless.

A strong breeze blew through the camp, rustling the leaves in the trees and the leaves of the grape vines. The breeze had a biting cold edge to it, but that wasn't why chills ran down my spine in waves, one right after the other. Or why goosebumps rose on my arms. No, it was because I swear I'd heard the whisper of a voice communicating something to me.

Another breeze blew through and I heard it loud and clear. So clear I was surprised Chiron hadn't heart it.

_Seirína._

"Siren," I whispered, my back going ramrod straight. The wind died down. Everything went silent, still.

I could feel Chiron's eyes turn to me after I'd spoken. "What?"

Slowly I turned my head to look up at Chiron. "Seirína," I repeated. "Siren, in Greek, right?" Chiron nodded. "The monsters Gaea's been sending after me started calling me Seirína. I think I know why now. She knew of the potential of my…" I trailed off, reaching up, pressing my fingertips to my neck. "…my voice." There was a long silent pause. I wasn't sure if Chiron was thinking, or if he didn't know what to make of this sudden revelation. I didn't want to look to see which it was, either. If it was the latter, and he didn't know what was going on, I'm not quite sure what I'd do, then.

"What should I do?" I finally managed in a strangled whisper. I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to know.

When Chiron didn't answer, I looked up at him, unable to bear the deafening silence. He looked thoughtful, his eyebrows furrowed. I wasn't sure that comforted me or not.

"Honestly, I'm really not sure, Victoria," he sighed, meeting my gaze. "…I would…refrain from singing until we can figure out the extent to this new…ability." I felt my heart sink. Singing, music, was my life. It felt like the only physical connection to my mom I had left by way of my guitar. If I didn't have that anymore…I wasn't _me_. I looked away, blinking, trying to process this.

"I'm sorry, Victoria," Chiron said softly, resting a gentle, warm hand on my shoulder. "I know that may not be what you want to hear, but I've only ever seen something like this _once_ before." He paused and I tensed, waiting. "Orpheus." My memory of his story flickered like a candle in strong winds "A demigod." Only specific details. "A child of the Muse, Calliope, and the King of Thrace." Barely memories to speak of.

"Taught by Apollo himself." I couldn't help the bitterness that seeped into my voice. The only other thing I could remember clearly was what he was most famous for—losing Eurydice, twice, because he'd looked back before they'd exited the Underworld.

"He was known for his poetry, skill with a lyre, and singing voice," Chiron explained. "When he sang he could entrance animals. Trees and rocks moved. Rivers flowed softer." He shifted and looked over at me. I met his gaze. "You may be capable of such things if you tried, or if you practiced enough as he did. Obviously, with that specific song, you are able to put children into a trance. Perhaps the contents of the song have something to do with that. I will look into this more and get back to you soon." His voice was lighter now, less worried now that he had something he could hold onto, explore, research.

"But the magic of my voice doesn't come from Apollo," I objected. "Wouldn't I feel it if it did? Wouldn't I be exhausted? Did Orpheus ever get exhausted after singing?"

"I am unsure of the origin of your voice," Chiron said thoughtfully, stroking his beard again. "Orpheus had an affinity because of who his mother was, but I do not believe that he was using magic."

I let out a frustrated sigh and looked down at the porch. "I don't understand. You just said that I must be using some kind of magic. Now you're implying I'm not?"

"Perhaps it's all in that song," he reiterated. "Maybe it _is_ enchanted somehow. Maybe you are like Orpheus in that because your father is Apollo you have an affinity for music, specifically singing. I've heard from your brother that your mother was an exceptional singer. It sounds as if you've inherited her talent. That combined with Apollo being your father and it would make sense for you to have such a powerful voice.

"Furthermore, entrancing someone and putting someone under a trance are two different things," Chiron told me. Then he paused, thinking. "…I would still refrain from singing for now. But perhaps you could start private lessons with me and we can see how similar, or different, your abilities are to Orpheus."

You'd think this news would make me feel better, I could still sing, but only during our lessons. Maybe the trance had been because of the song combined with my singing ability.

Instead, I felt absolutely rotten. My heart had dropped into my stomach, which was now in a tight knot. I was afraid that I might hurt or kill someone by singing the wrong thing. What if I got too emotional, out of control? Did that ever happen to Orpheus? Did he ever have that problem? None of this was good news. I was devastated.

I had come to fear the very thing that'd given me solace on those dark nights.

* * *

Gaea visited me that night.

The scene was nearly the same as when she'd appeared to me the first time: in the empty Apollo cabin, with summer sunlight streaming through the windows, lighting up the entire cabin. Gaea was already inside, though, waiting for me, standing in her shifting dirt robes. She still had the same veil of dust over her sleeping, smiling face.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone," I growled through gritted teeth as soon as I'd gathered my bearings. " _Stop_ sending me dreams."

Gaea merely looked at me with that small smile. The more she stared, the more it unnerved me. Curling my hands into fists, I kept her "gaze."

Finally, she spoke: "I assure you, I am only sending you the music. I have nothing to do with"—her voice took on a mocking, sour edge—"whatever else you may be seeing." It was like she knew what I was seeing, but was pretending not to. I didn't know if this meant she was sending them to me or she was just messing with me, which only irritated me even more.

"Why are did you send this to me?" I demanded. "I didn't want any of this! You've taken away one of the few things that actually made me happy." My voice broke and I swallowed hard, blinking back tears that'd welled up in my eyes. I hated to show such weakness in front of a primordial goddess, but I was so sick and tired of gods and goddess messing up my life! Of taking away the things I loved, making it feel as if I was living in the Fields of Punishment already.

"You're such an ungrateful brat," Gaea commented, her voice remaining soft. It set me on edge. "You should be thanking me. I'm merely introducing you to a power you've had but haven't utilized to its utmost potential.

"Orpheus used _his_. He sang to his heart's content; sang and sang and sang. He moved nature spirits themselves with his voice. He protected the Argonauts from certain doom when they passed the island that held the Sirens with his voice. He moved the nature spirits and even the gods themselves to tears with his song of mourning when his dear Eurydice died. He even almost managed to almost bring her back after having sung to Hades and Persephone themselves.

"And you, my child, have all that potential, and more. If you were to just _realize_ it—"

I clicked my tongue and glared at the earth goddess. "And why do you even care about any of that? You're trying to overthrow the gods. You don't care about puny mortal's love stories." My lip curled up in a snarl. "You can't fool me, so don't even try."

If it wasn't just my imagination, Gaea's sleeping smile turned sinister and she gave a single, baleful chuckle. "You are correct. My children—my _other_ children—deserve to rule over the domains the gods now hold. Humans aren't _fit_ for this earth. As for their stories…well, their struggles can't even begin to touch me." She paused to let this sink in before ghosting toward me. I quickly stepped back, not wanting to get too close to her. She stopped and so did I, but I eyed her warily. "But that doesn't stop what I've just told you from being true. Now it's time you used your gift."

"For you?" I spat.

Gaea didn't answer at all this time. Instead, she gave another short laugh before vanishing in a puff of…dust. I woke up with a start, my chest heaving. I put a hand to my throat, thinking about Chiron's words, Gaea's words. My other hand, resting on the bed furled into a fist as I made up my mind.

* * *

I'd stopped singing, humming, listening to music. I avoided Peleus, now that I wasn't waking up before dawn from a nightmare. I still woke early to clean the outside restrooms, but didn't go to greet Peleus. Part of me felt horribly guilty, but I didn't want to risk accidentally slipping into that tune. Or accidentally putting someone into a trance. Even if my music was like Orpheus's and couldn't actually put anyone into a trance, I wasn't going to risk it.

Speaking of, Chiron had determined that was most likely the case. The song that Gaea had been trying to weave into my subconscious didn't really explain why the kids had been put into a trance, but he'd done more digging and came up with the story of the Pied Piper. The story went that the Pied Piper played a song that hypnotized children. He'd lead them away from the village and killed them or sold them.

But because these were just stories—ha! Can you imagine that?—Chiron wasn't sure if they were actually related, or people related them because of similar words. The fact of the matter was, though, Chiron thought if I just avoided that song, I should be in the clear. He reminded me that what was most likely happening was the rhyme already had magical properties to begin with _because_ of the fact it was a nursery rhyme. It was starting to look like I was more similar to Orpheus. Even so, I was wary.

Long story short: I decided that not singing at all was my best bet.

I'd even begged my siblings to convince kids to not request I sing at the campfire lest I break Viola's promise. Also, to make sure I didn't break my swear on the Styx. I had enough troubles in my life, I didn't need a magical river in the Underworld giving me more to deal with. I'd also asked my siblings to turn counselors away if they came over to our cabin with kids. It broke my heart to tell them that, but I couldn't bear to even think of the consequences if I couldn't control my music. Even if it merely entranced them.

As if feeling guilty wasn't enough, though, giving up music was hurting my very soul. Music, singing, my mom's guitar, they were everything to me. Giving that up because I was afraid of what I might do was physically painful. The stress I was putting on myself only exacerbated my chronic pain, which made functioning through the day harder and harder.

Not to mention, my dream had turned sour. Without the soft piano music, it was eerily silent. Too silent. So silent I felt suffocated whenever I had that dream. Though, I was glad it wasn't there anymore, because I wanted to rid my brain of that song as much as I possibly could. Let it sink into the forgotten depths of my memory.

Gaea didn't show again, to my relief.

As the days passed, however, my dream got worse. The silence turned to eerie music, the kind you'd hear in horror movies. The sound of someone softly playing an off-key piano, an out-of-tune gramophone, the sound of a heartbeat. The feeling of helplessness grew so strong, it stole my breath and paralyzed me. The music grew more sinister each night, the horrid feeling increasing along with it.

Then, one night the picture of the daffodil was crystal clear.

It sat in a black void, a light making it almost glow against the background. A small pile of dirt covered its roots, but the flower dropped as if it hadn't been watered in a while.

Even though I didn't have a physical form, I could feel my chest constricting, as I desperately gasped for air. I could feel my body curl in on itself, trying to get away from the crippling helplessness, but not be crushed completely by it, either.

 _Stop,_ I thought. _Please, just…make it stop._

Like I had actual control over it, the music halted abruptly, leaving me in silence. The helpless feeling slowly dissipated like fog burning off in the sun. Just as it completely disappeared and I felt the weight on my chest lift, I heard the sound of something being stabbed. The vision of the flower flashed bright white for a millisecond. There was a hole in the stem of the flower now. Red, like blood, burst from the hole as the flower hung there limply The feeling of helplessness sucker punched me in the gut, knocking the breath from me.

I wanted to cry out, but my vocal chords didn't seem to be working.

The image started shifting, flickering, like the film was changing. The picture became grainy again, but it filled my vision. Two figures were running through what looked to be a library? It looked like hallways, but they reached a certain point, and there gaps in the "walls" from what I assumed was the books.

 _Hurry!_ A voice echoed through my head, panting. TJ? It sounded like TJ's voice.

 _Where are we going?_ This was a different voice, a girl's voice. I didn't recognize _her_ voice, but I had an inkling of what was going on. TJ had been sent out on another extraction mission. But it sounded like he was in trouble.

The scene shifted and I was suddenly behind them as they ran forward and burst through what looked to be a door. It was nighttime, based on how much light was showing. There was something blocking them from going any further, something big. No, more than one something. As they shifted, their blobs split into two separate things. But the vision was still too fuzzy for me to make out what they were.

 _Stay behind me,_ TJ whispered, pushing the girl behind him. Did he have a weapon? His reed pipes? How was he going to take on _two_ huge monsters? Probably deadly, too. I'd come to learn the larger they were, the more threat they posed. They probably had some kind of poison or venom, too, which didn't help the situation.

My heart lurched in my chest and I screamed as both monsters shot straight toward TJ.

I bolted upright in bed, immediately throwing the covers off me. The lights came on in the cabin and my siblings, having gotten so used to me waking them in the middle of the night, were up and out of their beds as if they hadn't been sleeping at all. They were, of course, still a bit groggy, rubbing their eyes of gunk, but they were cognizant enough to ask me what was wrong.

I was busy pulling on some clothes, tying my shoes, putting my hair up, and readying in my weapons.

"TJ's in trouble," I finally managed, albeit breathlessly, taking the quiver of arrows hanging from a nail in the bedpost that held the bed above me, and slinging it over my shoulder. It was times like these that I _really_ did enjoy having a magic bow. "I have to go help him." My voice broke, just thinking of the trouble he was in right now. I had to get to him as fast as possible.

"You can't just—" one of them started.

"There's no time!" I snapped, spinning on them, glaring. Before they could argue, a frantic knock sounded at the door. I turned and pulled it open. "Chiron."

He looked nervous, his horse-half shifting, tail swishing. Chiron's face was perturbed and my heart dropped.

"It's TJ," Chiron said.

"I know, I had a dream." I said, stepping out and closing the door. Chiron carefully backed up to allow me room.

"He's at the New York Public Library," Chiron informed. "You must go quickly."

I nodded and was about to take off, but Chiron held up his hand and shook his head. "I am giving you a ride to the stables. Three pegasi are waiting for you. I have already told them of their mission." I felt my heart stop. It was serious if Chiron was offering me a ride on his back, _and_ if I was going to be riding a pegasus. It did make more sense, though, because traffic would still be bad, and I didn't have time for that.

Swallowing hard, I stepped toward him. Chiron held out his hand for me to take and I swung up onto his back. Chiron jumped off the porch and galloped at full speed to the stables. I jumped off while he was slowing down, rolling to make sure I didn't break or injure anything.

I recognized Porkpie as one of the three pegasi and immediately went to him, jumping onto his back. I nodded once more to my mentor before spurring Porkpie. It was cold up in the air, frigid even, but I barely even registered that. My mind was so focused on TJ and the girl.

 _Please be safe,_ I thought as Porkpie flew above the city, twinkling with lights, its own sun on the East Coast. _Hold on for just a little bit longer._

Finally, we arrived at the Library. As Porkpie descended, I scanned for signs of the monsters, TJ, and the girl. They were at the front entrance. By some miracle, TJ had managed to dust one of the monsters.

"There!" I shouted, pointing. Porkpie immediately banked to his right before folding in his wings and diving. I held on tight, having to squeeze my eyes shut, the air being so cold and dry. Like a pro, Porkpie spread his wings to slow his fall and landed smoothly several feet away from the bottom of the steps leading up to the front doors of the building. All this—the dive, the landing—took less than ten seconds.

I jumped off of Porkpie and started to run toward the remaining monster, which I now saw as a _giant_ scorpion. The shape of its claws, the tail with its uniquely-shaped stinger was a dead giveaway.

My breath came out in ragged gasps from being in the cold for so long. My body already felt fatigued, my pin-pricks taking up nearly half my concentration. But none of that mattered, all that mattered was making sure both TJ and the girl were _safe_.

As I ran, time seemed to slow, like I was trying to run through molasses or honey. It was like being in a dream where you're trying to run away from a monster, but aren't getting anywhere. The feeling of struggling to make your body listen to your brain, the struggle to make your body _work_.

I watched in horror as the remaining scorpion reared its stinger back, aimed right for the girl.

As the girl screamed, stepping away and holding up an arm out of instinct.

As TJ, who was on the other side of the steps, ran toward the girl.

Like a spell had been broken, everything went into hyper-speed.

The giant scorpion's stinger shot forward.

" _NO!_ " I shrieked just as TJ threw himself in front of the girl, getting stabbed right in the middle of his chest. " _TJ!_ "

I felt the pain of the scorpion's stinger as if I'd been stung: a hot, tight ball in the middle of my chest, except it was rage and not poison. It expanded and grew until it had completely engulfed me. I saw nothing but red, and thought of nothing but killing this damned monster.

Unsheathing my sword, I launched myself into the air using my telekinetic abilities and swung at the scorpion's tale, lopping it off. The monster screamed in pain, turning to face me as I landed. Its pincers snapped, tail lashing forward out of habit, mouth clicking, foaming, and hissing.

"Bring it on," I growled.

The scorpion tried to grab me with both its pincers. I jumped back, swinging my sword down on of the pincers. Its cry of agony was shorter, followed an outraged roar and even more clicking, hissing, and foaming. It darted toward me, all six legs moving as fast as lightning. But I was prepared. I ran toward it, jumped, using my magic to get enough air, and landed on its back. Without losing momentum, I sprinted forward, slicing off the rest of its tail.

I didn't waste any time, to turn and run to its head. With a war cry, I chopped off its other pincer, before stabbing my sword into the middle of its head.

With one last wail of pain, the monster disintegrated right from underneath me. I landed in a pile of monster ash, nearly falling down the steps as I did so. After regaining my balance, I summoned the Mist, my rune glowing because of my rage. I used it to spread the ashes so thin, this monster wouldn't be coming back any time soon.

I released the Mist and nearly collapsed, but the girl's voice brought me back from the brink. Through the haze of range and prickles, my name broke through. I turned and met wide, grey eyes of the girl who looked only ten, _maybe_ twelve. A daughter of Athena going by her grey eyes and blonde hair. Then my eyes lowered to see TJ, lying on his back, his chest barely moving.

The fight left me, my rage disappeared like a star winking out of existence. I felt the panic, fear, and grief wash over me. Dropping my sword—not my smartest move ever—I ran over to him, collapsing to my knees at his side. My heart had shot into my throat and that's where it remained, beating, choking me.

TJ's slightly glazed eyes slid over to meet my tear-filled ones. My lower lip shook and sobs came bubbling up to the surface.

Now that I was closer, I realized his body was shaking, convulsing even from the poison. My hands fluttered over his wound, around his face, tears streaming down my cheeks.

"I can't—" I gasped desperately. "I can't heal you. I don't…I don't have—" A sob cut me off, but I swallowed hard and tried to continue. "I don't have anything to-to heal you." I met his eyes again. They swirled with pain, sadness, and…acceptance. Silently, his eyes filling with tears, he shook his head. He blinked and they spilled from the corners.

I gritted my teeth, my chest tightening. My anger returned. " _No._ " I growled. "No, you are _not_ dying."

"It's okay," he managed.

"It's not!" I snapped. "It's not okay! You're my friend! I can't just…I can't just…" My voice trailed off and I merely shook my head, uselessly wiping at my eyes with the heel of my hand. "I can get help." I whispered with fervor, finding my voice again. "I can get my siblings. You'll be _fine_. I survived Chimera's snakebite. You'll survive this. You _will_."

TJ looked back at me with such a sad expression, it broke my heart, making the ache in my chest increase exponentially. His breathing stuttered, his face contorted in pain and he yelped. I found his hand and squeezed it tightly in both of mine. When the episode had subsided, TJ opened his eyes again, his chest heaving, his body shaking even more.

"There isn't time," he whispered, coughing.

I squeezed his hand tighter, holding it to my forehead. "You can't just…" The black hole had returned, but instead of taking away the pain, my emotions, it consumed my frantically beating heart. "You can't just leave me. You're one of my only friends." I lowered his hand so I could look at him again. He had somehow managed a small smile.

"And I'm glad I was able to be your friend." He tensed with pain again, his expression scrunching up for another agonizing moment.

"Don't say that," I whispered feverishly, shaking my head. "Don't…" My voice died and sobs took its place.

A moment passed and I watched as the light in his eyes started to dim. I gripped his hand even tighter.

"Will you sing for me?" he asked in a weak, far-away-sounding voice.

"I can't heal you that way," I cried.

He gave me another small, sad smile. "I know."

"…I can't," I whispered, shaking my head, that fear resurfacing, adding to the deadly cocktail of emotions swirling inside me. "I can't." He knew about my struggle with this decision. I'd talked to him—well more like ranted at him—about it after Chiron had given me the whole of it. I figured since TJ had come to me about Willa, I could go to him about personal issues, too.

TJ swallowed painfully, his breath staggered and uneven. "Please," he whispered, catching and holding my gaze. "I…I'm so scared…" The best way I could explain what I felt in that moment was a shockwave of…something. I didn't know what it was, exactly, but the look in TJ's eyes, the _fear_ —the exact same fear that'd swirled in Luke's eyes when he was dying.

I gripped TJ's hand tighter, clenching my jaw shut. Slowly, I nodded.

"Okay," I gasped, a fresh wave of tears spilling from my eyes. "Okay." I tried to get my breathing under as much control as I could. I removed one of my hands from his, keeping my other where it was, and gently wiped away the hair on his forehead. Closing my eyes, I started to sing Michael Jackson's "Earth Song."

I let my pain, my grief, my sadness guide the song, helping me change the lyrics to something more positive, since I was trying to _soothe_ TJ and _not_ make him feel he failed as a nature spirit, trying to protect the planet.

As I settled into it, I opened my eyes again, so I could meet TJ's eyes once more. The fear was gone, replaced by calm, peace. His body had stopped shaking. His breath was even quieter now, less ragged. His face was relaxed. I continued to sing, and his grip on my hand slackened. The light slowly faded from his eyes. Silent sobs began wracking my body. I broke off my song and sat there for a quiet moment, mourning.

With a trembling free hand, I reached forward and rested it on TJ's forehead. The words came over me like I was under some kind of spell. I unintentionally sang them: an ancient blessing.

With tears streaming down my face, I desperately held onto his fading hand until I was holding nothing but air.

A harsh sob escaped my lips and I put one of my hands up to cover my mouth, the other shot out to hold me up as I fell forward, hunching over what TJ had been reincarnated as. This had to be some kind of sick joke from the Fates.

Sitting there, in a small pile of dirt, was a bright yellow daffodil.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> …so, yeah.
> 
> As always, I, uh, hope you, um, enjoyed…? Comments are much appreciated ~~please don't kill me~~ ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	23. And Dances With the Daffodils

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **TRIGGER WARNING:** some self-loathing, some self-hate, slight ideation of death.
> 
> Okay, so [lucifersfavoritchild](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lucifersfavoritechild/pseuds/lucifersfavoritechild) posted a new fanfic involving our favorite OC! It's called [Look Alike](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9119404/chapters/20725789). If you like SPN, I have a feeling you'll _really_ enjoy this fic. Even if you don't, even better! Because you won't know what's going to happen and it'll be a new adventure for you and Tori to take together in an AU. Regardless, go check it out! It's fantastic!

I don't know how long I sat there, like that, hunched over the flower, silently crying. Suddenly, the girl sitting across from me sucked in a sharp breath. My instincts kicked in. Despite my grief, TJ had given his life to save this girl, I wasn't about to let his sacrifice be in vain. As I stood, I turned to see an _empousa_ approaching at a rapid pace. Without even thinking, I let my ring transform into a bow, nocking an arrow and shooting her straight through the heart just as she leapt at me. With an enraged shriek, she burst into dust.

I notched another arrow and looked around, surveying the area for more monsters. None appeared, but I didn't let my guard down. A cold breeze had picked up, and it felt familiar…sinister.

After a few moments, a dust devil appeared on the sidewalk at the bottom of the stairs. I lowered my bow and arrow and looked at the girl over my shoulder.

"Get behind me," I instructed, holding out an arm and ushering her closer to me before turning to face the street again, keeping my bow down, but prepared to raise it and shoot. It looked like the _empousa_ was reforming. The dust did take shape of a person, but it wasn't an _empousa_.

I felt the breath leave me and I almost dropped my bow and arrow.

Before me stood a figure, cloaked in a robe made of churning earth, a thin veil of dust covering her sleeping, smiling face.

Rage replaced the shock, realizing _why_ she was here. I raised my bow and arrow, aiming for her heart—if she even had one—but the arrow passed harmlessly through. I quickly let my bow spiral back into a ring and summoned my sword back to my hand, keeping it unsheathed as Gaea approached, floating up the steps. I shifted slightly, making sure I was between her, and the girl and the flower. I wanted to protect them both.

"What do you want?" I growled through gritted teeth. My hand gripped the hilt of my sword so hard, my hand was starting to cramp.

Gaea stopped a few steps down from me, regarding me for a long moment. "This is what happens when you do not listen to what I say," she finally said. Well, I say said. It was more like the earth beneath me rumbled, sending vibrations up through my body, which were then translated into words. The worst part about this was that her voice sounded like it was coming from inside my mind, rather than from another person.

She continued, "Mother Earth knows best, after all. Wouldn't you say?"

"If you wanted me to sing, there were other ways!" I screamed, tears filling my eyes, grief filling my chest with the eternal ache I thought I'd finally gotten used to. " _You didn't have to kill my friend!_ "

"Would you have sung any other way?" Gaea asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, to deny her implied claim, but the words got caught in my throat as the realization struck me. My sword arm dipped slightly as it came rushing over me: she was right.

Gaea started forward again and I raised my sword, tears streaming down my cheeks.

"Don't you dare," I snarled. She paused, the tip of my sword hovering just inches from her now. " _Don't—you—dare_ come any closer."

"Now, Victoria—"

"What did you think you were going to accomplish?" I spat. "Threatening my brother? _Murdering_ my _friend_? Sending me dreams of Luke—" I choked on his name, a fresh wave of tears spilling from my eyes.

"I see that you are…distraught," she said. "I will be back. Make no mistake, you could be a _great_ asset to the coming war. I would _hate_ for you to be on the wrong side, Victoria."

"Leave. _Now._ "

Gaea didn't say anything else. She floated back, down the steps until she was back where she'd formed. A big, cold gust of wind blew past us and Gaea's form dissolved into the wind. Just as fast as it had come, the wind was gone. The sounds of New York night life picked back up. My body grew weary and cold. My chronic pain was near an unbearable level. My hands were shaking, my breathing ragged.

Forcing away the prickles as best I could, I sheathed my sword, turning to face the girl to make sure she was okay. Then my eyes dropped to the flower. It was drooping now. I needed to get it back to camp, to plant it…

I sunk to the ground again, expecting more tears to well up and spill over, but none came. I was feeling surprisingly hollow now. The girl kneeled across from me, also examining the flower.

"You're taking this awfully calm," I commented, eyeing her.

She looked up at me, meeting my gaze with grey eyes so much like Annabeth's, and for a moment, I wondered what it would be like to be a daughter of Athena.

"Well, one of us needs to be," she replied. "My mom told me that it's okay for grown-ups to break down and have to lean on someone else for a while. It's just the way of life."

"Very wise." I murmured. Then something occurred to me. "Athena told you that?" I asked, skeptical.

The girl laughed, sending a shockwave of surprising warmth through me. "No, my other mom. My human mom," she clarified. "How'd you know Athena was my godly mom?"

"Family resemblance."

We lapsed into silence until, behind me, Porkpie whinnied. I looked at him over my shoulder, nodding to tell him I understood. I turned back to the girl.

"We should get back to camp. Chiron, our activities director, will be worried," I explained, slowly standing. I looked down at the flower, frowning, and back at the pegasi waiting for us, unsure of how to carry it back.

"Here, I have something in my backpack that we can carry it in," the girl said, unslinging her backpack and digging through the largest pocket.

"I don't think I ever got your name," I said as I waited. I was starting to shiver now. Not a good sign.

"It's Christie," she answered before exclaiming, "A-ha! Here we are." Christie smiled and pulled out a black mug with the constellation of Libra outlined in gold. I kneeled down, carefully scooping up the flower, dirt and all, and dropping it into her mug. I eyed her again, this time looking to see if she had a coat or something to keep her somewhat warm for the flight back to camp.

"Do you have a coat in your backpack, too?" I asked. "It's going to get cold."

Christie nodded. I stood as she dug out a coat and put it on before standing and slinging her backpack back over her shoulder.

"Here, let me hold that," she said, reaching for the mug. I pulled away from her, my heart hammering strangely in my chest as I stared at her. She didn't seem upset at this and simply smiled genially. "You're getting cold. The mug might slip from your hands during our ride. I can tell he meant a lot to you, and I want to make sure that he'll get back to this camp safely."

She waited as my brain worked through her logic. Slowly, I nodded, and stretched out my arms. Christie took it from me gently, smiling at me again.

"All right, let's go," I said, a large shiver hitting me as we made our way down the steps. Porkpie nudge me with his snout, huffing air. I patted his nose and he nipped at my cheek affectionately.

"Thanks, Porkpie," I whispered, my throat closing up. I swallowed hard and turned to the pegasus Christie would be riding. "I want you to say in front of me, all right." The pegasus whinnied and nodded. Christie and I mounted our respective pegasi before all five of us took to the skies. I leaned in close to Porkpie to try and shield myself from the cold as much as possible. I think, though, they were flying lower because it was so cold, which I was grateful for. Now that it was dark, we didn't have to worry about people seeing us. Even if they did, the Mist would take care of it.

It was hard to keep an eye out for potential flying monsters and stay somewhat warm, but before I knew it, we crossed through the border to camp and landed in front of the Big House. My hands and feet were numb, and I almost collapsed when I slid off Porkpie.

Christie somehow managed to hop off without jostling the mug. She came over to me, then, and held it out for me to take. Despite the state of my hands, I forced them to take the mug and wrapped my fingers around it, staring down at the droopy, yet bright daffodil. Now that the danger had passed, my body weak from cold, fighting, crying so much, I couldn't control my tears as they pooled in my eyes once again.

From the porch, I heard the door slam open and approaching footsteps. Well, more like the clopping of hooves.

I looked to my left to see Alton and Chiron coming up to us.

"Where is TJ?" Chiron asked. My lower lip shook and a sob escaped my lips. I turned to face them fully, feebly holding out the mug. Chiron's expression saddened and Alton's eyes filled with tears.

"I-I'm s-so s-s-sorry," I managed through my shivering and tears. "I-I c-couldn't s-save him."

Alton came forward, pulling me into a big hug, slightly squishing the mug between us. But I didn't care, because he was so warm, and his body heat was warming my fingers.

"It's not your fault. It's part of the job," Alton told me, his voice shaking. He rubbed my back comfortingly. "He was doing his duty." He pulled back sniffling and wiping his eyes. "Here, let me take him. I'll plant him by the lake."

"Next to the willow, that hangs over the water," I added. "He…" My voice wavered and I had to close my mouth to gain control. Still, my voice came out in a whisper of barely contained sorrow. "He would've liked that."

Alton nodded, tears glistening in his eyes and on his cheeks, but a smile managed to make its way to his lips. "Yeah, he would've." With that, Alton headed off, toward the lake. I watched him go trying not to completely break down.

"Christie," Chiron said in a gentle voice, bringing my attention back to him. "Would you mind waiting inside the Big House. It's just up those steps and through that door."

"Not at all," she answered with a shake of her head before heading toward the porch.

"Oh, and, uh…I should warn you about the, um…decorations," Chiron called to her as she stepped onto the porch. "They're a bit…well, you'll see. Just be prepared."

"Okay." With that, she turned and went inside. I turned to look at Chiron as he turned to look at me.

"Why don't I walk you back to your cabin," he suggested with soft eyes. "Will you be able to make it?"

I nodded, not actually knowing if I could. My emotions were a wreck, fluctuating from a hollow, numb feeling to complete meltdown with no in between. Right now, I was feeling hollow again. Without that strong emotion, however, I found it hard to concentrate on anything but how cold I was or my prickles, which were at an unbearable level now. It was a miracle I was still standing, still coherent.

I quickly thanked Porkpie and the other pegasi before starting for the green with Chiron right at my side.

Our walk was slow and silent. I half expected Chiron to say something to me, to soothe me somehow—after all, why else would he have offered to walk me back?—but then realized maybe he'd offered so he could make sure I got back without passing out.

"Where…where are my siblings?' I mumbled, realizing they hadn't swarmed me as soon as I'd landed.

"I…convinced them to go back to your cabin and try to get some rest," Chiron answered. "There wasn't much they could do until you returned."

Another chasm of silence yawned between us. Half-way there, I felt a breeze blow through the camp. Another violent shiver shook me, but pulled me back to when Gaea had appeared.

"It's my fault," I said in a dead voice.

"Now, Victoria—" Chiron tried.

"She's taunting me," I whispered, stopping in my tracks, staring ahead but instead of the flow of cabins, I saw Gaea, and her mocking sleepy smile.

"Who?" Chiron asked.

"Gaea." I swallowed hard, my hands balling into fists. "She killed him because I had stopped singing." My voice had grown surprisingly strong. "She killed him because of something _I_ did." I could feel the meltdown coming again. Tears burned my eyes, sobs blocked my throat.

"That does not make it your fault, Victoria," Chiron said. The tone of his voice startled me enough that I simmered down and looked up at him. His eyebrows were furrowed, his face hard, but his eyes remained soft, understanding, forgiving. "I know you blame yourself for many deaths that have happened to our campers, and I don't want you to add TJ to the list.

"It is an unfortunate fact of a satyr's life that they may perish during scouting or extraction. They all know this, but they do it anyway, because it is worth it. It is worth the life or lives that they have saved. And together, tonight, you and TJ have saved another life. He would not want you to blame yourself."

Chiron had a point. That didn't make it any less hard to _not_ blame myself. It was easier said than done. Still, his words hadn't fallen on deaf ears.

I nodded. "Thanks." I whispered, facing forward and starting to walk again. We'd arrived at the green, the hearth fire in the middle a nice, warm change from the biting cold of winter outside the borders. It chased away the cold, numb, and even some of the prickles.

"Victoria," Chiron said, catching my attention as we neared the Apollo cabin. I looked up at him expectantly. "Don't let her turn something that can bring people great joy into a weakness. Your singing is your strength. Don't let her use that against you. Use it against her." The fervor in his words startled me, but filled me with an odd sense of determination. She had made me aware of this power, expecting me to join her side and use it against my friends, family, and home.

But she had severely misjudged my character.

I took a deep breath as I walked up the porch steps. I turned to face my mentor as I stepped onto the porch. "Thanks, Chiron."

Chiron nodded. "Now get some rest. You've…had a long night."

I nodded silently, the rollercoaster continuing, heightening into breakdown mode again. I quickly turned and went inside, unintentionally slamming the door, leaning against it and sliding down to the floor. My breath came in quick gasps, hissing through my teeth. More tears filled my eyes. My heart felt like it was going to burst from my chest it was beating so rapidly. The darkness was encroaching on my vision. I felt trapped, cornered, like I was suffocating.

Fuzzy shapes, slightly familiar faces appeared in my fading vision, telling me I'd accidentally woken my siblings or they hadn't slept a wink since I'd left. But it was too late, my body had finally had enough and was shutting down. The blackness consumed my vision, the noise of my siblings' voices faded out, and my emotions were snuffed out like candlelight. For now.

* * *

I don't even think it'd even been an hour before I woke up again. Mostly because my chronic pain woke me up. At first, I forgot everything that'd happened. But when the pin-pricks subsided enough that my brain could think of anything else, anything at all, it was the events of tonight.

I sat up and looked around the cabin. The lighting was dim, not completely dark and I wondered why that was. Still looking around, I threw the blankets off me, throwing my legs over the edge of the bed. This noise, however, alerted my siblings, who either hadn't been sleeping at all or had been dozing. They all shifted, yawning, and sat up in their beds.

I didn't even really notice. There were two things my mind were on currently, my pain, and TJ. I carefully set my feet down on the floor, slowly putting weight on them to see if they'd hold. I also noticed I was still in the clothes I'd gone out in.

When I'd stood for a few minutes, breathing deeply, I went to grab my shoes and started to pull them on.

"Where are you going?" Kayla asked, her voice tired and sleepy.

"To see TJ." I assumed, after I'd passed out, they probably went to Chiron for an explanation.

"Do you want someone to come with you?" Cressida yawned.

"No." I started toward the door. Since they didn't ask questions about what happened or what I meant by seeing TJ, that told me my assumption was correct.

The night was a bit chilly, even with the border that could control the weather. And I was chilled from having lied down and not slept. Despite this, I didn't go back into my cabin to grab a jacket. I didn't want to look my siblings in the eyes and know that they were upset with me. I couldn't handle that right now. I was barely hanging on by a thread as it was.

Taking deep breaths, I worked my way off the porch and to the lake. Specifically, the willow tree that hung over it on the east side. A few feet away from base of the tree was a single yellow daffodil, glowing in the moonlight. The soil around the flower was darker and it smelled fresh.

I collapsed next, shifting so I was sitting cross-legged. I stared down at it for a long time before reaching out with a shaking hand. I wanted to touch the soft petals—I'd always loved the way petals felt between my fingers—but thought better of it and retracted my hand.

Tears welled up in my eyes once again. I gritted my teeth, not wanting cry _again_ , but Nico's words rang through my head, about dealing with grief. It would be hard to come back (having an anchor always helped) but I let go. I let my tears and sobs come. I did try to keep them quiet, because I didn't want anyone else coming out to check on me, but I let them flow through me. I let my grief, my anger, my pain run through my veins like blood.

Eventually, I exhausted myself enough that my tears ran dry and my sobs stopped. I had started shivering again, but I continued to sit there, staring down at the flower. The stinger piercing TJ's chest playing over and over again in my head. What could I have done to stop it? Prevent it? If only I had been there earlier!

"I know what you're thinking," a girl's voice said, startling me from my broken record thoughts. I looked up to see Christie. She smiled and sat down to my left, but left a space between me and her.

"And what's that?" I asked slowly.

"That it's your fault," she answered with such a clear voice, I jolted. "What you could've done to save TJ."

"Wow, you're either really smart or a mind reader." I could've laughed if I had it in me. "But it _is_ my fault. I'm a daughter of _Apollo_. The god of healing." I could feel myself getting worked up again, but forced the words out. " _All_ my siblings can heal with magic, but I…I can't. Because of some stupid grudge I have with my father. It _is_ my fault, because if I could just let it go, then maybe I'd be able to actually _heal_ …"

Christie gave me a sympathetic smile, her grey eyes shining in the moonlight. "Then let it go."

I snorted. "Easier said than done, kid. That's also really not helping."

"Well, to be honest, I just came out here wanting to check on you." She reached up to scratch her ear, looking embarrassed.

The edge of my lips quirked up. "You know how that sounds, right? How old are you, again?"

Christie shrugged. "Like I said, sometimes grown-ups need to take a break from being grown-ups." She sobered up then. "I just want you to know that…you _are_ still a good friend."

I blinked (she was definitely a mind reader) and looked way, shaking my head, biting my lip. "You don't know that," I mumbled.

"Well, based on the fact that you still protected me after TJ died, even though you were clearly distraught, he died with a good friend at his side." Christie looked over her shoulder as squawking sounded from my left, her right. "I'd better get back to my cabin before I'm eaten by harpies." She stood and offered me a hand. I stared at it for a long time before shaking my head. With a sad smile, she said, "Thanks for saving my life." before turning and leaving without another word.

I watched her go, dodging the three harpies that were out. I had no doubt she'd make it back to her cabin just fine. My eyes stayed on the harpies as they approached the lake.

"I smell tasty demigod," one of them cackled, delighted. I turned back to look at the flower, not even caring if they caught me. I deserved anything I got. And maybe afterward, in death, I'd finally find peace.

They continued to talk as they got closer, but I zoned them out, my eyes on the flower again. When they finally got to me, I closed my eyes and waited, trying to keep my breathing even and steady…

But nothing came. I opened my eyes again and looked around, wondering what they were waiting for. I was mildly—only mildly because that's all the energy I had left for—surprised to find that they had fluttered over and sat next to me. Two on my left, one on my right. They pointedly ignored my stares, preening their feathers, shifting on their chicken feet.

I looked back at the flower, letting out a small breath. So there I sat, shivering, with three harpies—my sworn nemeses—sitting peacefully next to me. I don't know how much longer it was until someone else approached. Footsteps, so human. I didn't even look over my shoulder this time, but tensed when I felt something drape over my shoulders. The harpies around me squawked and fluttered their wings at the disruption. Despite this, they stayed where they were.

I looked up as the person walked around to the opposite side of the flower and sat down, crossed-legged like me. I pulled the heavy blanket around me tighter, realizing how cold I actually was. A violent shiver ran through me, and I pulled it even tighter around me before glaring up at Will, he held two mugs in his hands. How he'd managed to drape a blanket over my shoulders without either of his hands was a mystery to me.

Gripping the edges of the blanket tightly, I stared down at the flower. "The Fates are cruel."

A moment passed before Will shoved one of the coffee mugs toward me. It was steaming in the cool night air and smelled of chocolate. I looked up at Will questioningly, but slowly released the blanket and took the mug. It was nice to have a source of heat to warm my stiff fingers.

"Chocolate activates the endorphins in your brain," he said, matter-of-factly. "Scientifically proven."

I reluctantly lifted the edge of the mug to my lips and took a testing sip. It was a little hot, but the warmth was nice. I felt it pool in my stomach, warming me from the inside. I tried not to look too pleased because I didn't want Will knowing—yeah, I was that kind of asshole. I'd probably feel guilty about it later, but that was for me to worry about when the time came.

The guilt came quicker than expected, but it was for something completely different.

"I'm sorry," I sighed, lowering my mug and looking at Will. "This should be the other way around. It always seems like you're taking care of me, when I'm older and should be taking care of you. We all went through the war."

Will snorted and I scowled, glaring at him.

My half-brother straightened up, meeting my challenge. "First of all, you're not _that_ much older," he objected. He relaxed his posture and his eyes softened. "Secondly, we're siblings. And friends. So it shouldn't matter who's older than whom. We need to take care of each other, regardless."

I hunched my shoulders, stroking my mug with one of my fingers. I glanced up at Will a tiny smile pulling at the edge of my lips.

"Thanks, Will," I mumbled before quickly taking another sip of my hot cocoa.

The blanket and hot cocoa helped warm me up and calm me down. At least it warmed me. I may have been calming down because I was _exhausted_. I didn't know when I'd woken up, how long the mission had taken, or how long I'd been sitting out here. It was still dark out, but it was also winter, so that meant shorter days. I couldn't feel the approaching sunrise, either. I was too lazy to look at my watch.

At some point, the rest of my siblings joined me and Will, with their own blankets. It was comforting, to be surrounded by people, by family.

Eventually, I think I finally fell asleep again. It was a surprisingly deep sleep. Unfortunately for me, that didn't keep away the nightmares. I just didn't wake up so easily. When I did wake, I was back in the cabin, in my bed. I could feel dawn just on the horizon. My chronic pain seemed manageable enough that if I took a few ibuprofen I'd be okay until they wore off. Looking around the room at all my sleeping siblings, I quietly slipped out of bed and got ready for the day.

I went up to greet Peleus, who nudged me with his snout, making a whine-like sound. When he pulled back, his eyes looked sad. I reached forward and patted his snout. He closed his eyes and huffed contentedly.

"I'm all right, buddy," I whispered, my voice wavering. I took a deep breath and blinked back the tears that'd filled my eyes. I needed to move, to work, to get my mind off what'd happened last night. That was the only thing keeping me from falling apart completely.

I sat down next to Peleus, who rested his head back on the ground, toward the Sound. I leaned against him, resting my head on his neck, letting the warmth chase away the pin-pricks. I didn't think I could sing so soon after, but I'd thought a lot about Chiron's words. He was right. I wasn't prepared to let Gaea get to me. I couldn't. I _wouldn't_.

Together, we watched the sunset in silence as we had the past few days after I'd gone to Chiron about my problem in the first place. Once the sun had fully risen, I stood and stretched. I big goodbye to Peleus before going to clean the outdoor restrooms.

I was just walking back to the closet that held the supplies when someone shouted my name.

"Victoria! Victoria!"

I dropped the bucket and its contents, reaching for my sword and turning to see who was calling me. It was Alton, and he was running toward me. I couldn't read the expression on his face, so I didn't let go of my grip on my sword.

"There's something you should see," he panted, stopping in front of me.

I looked around to see if there were any demigods in armor, trying to determine if something was wrong. When I didn't see or feel any panic or hysteria, I figured he was excited about something else. Hesitantly, I released my sword's hilt and faced Alton fully.

"What is it?" I asked.

Alton opened his mouth to respond, paused, and then shook his head. "I…I can't explain it…you just have to come see." He turned and started to head back the direction he'd come from, a smile pulling at his lips. "Come on!"

As he took off, I quickly threw the bucket and other cleaning supplies back into the closet before closing the door and following Alton. When I realized he was leading me to the lake, I faltered in my steps, nearly tripping. My run became a walk, which became a stand.

Alton, a few yards ahead of me, turned to look back and stopped when he realized I wasn't following. He clopped back toward me, his eyes full of empathy and understanding, a sad smile on his lips.

"I think you'll really like this," he said quietly, holding out his hand. "Really. I promise it's nothing bad." He stretched his hand out further. My eyes flickered from him, to the lake, to his hand.

Robotically, I reached forward and took his hand. Alton squeezed it gently before pulling me toward the lake at a much slower pace. I followed in a trance. I could feel my heart beating unsteadily in my chest. The sounds around me seemed to dim until all I could hear was a low-level ringing in my ears. The vibrant color of the camp seemed muted, dull, slowly being leeched out until everything looked black-and-white.

When we arrived at the lake, I held my breath as Alton led me around to the east side, where the willow stood. Immediately, through the grey, my eyes picked out the singular, yellow daffodil sitting equidistant from the tree and the lake.

Alton stopped, keeping his hand in mind. I stared at the flower, wondering what Alton had wanted me to see because nothing seemed to have changed. Then a breeze blew through. It wasn't cold or biting, it didn't remind me of winter. It was like a breath of summer, warm and gentle.

It blew away the ringing in my ears, and like magic, as the daffodil swayed in the breeze, its bright yellow color spread across the ground, like ripples in water, until the color had returned to my world. There, in front of me, were dozens upon dozens of daffodils surrounding TJ's, bright yellow, still swaying from the breeze that had long since passed, and shining in the early morning sun.

I lifted my free hand to clamp over my mouth as my eyes filled with tears and streamed down my face. I felt Alton squeeze my hand again and looked over at him. He had tears in his eyes, too.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he asked.

I nodded, looking back at the sea of daffodils.

It _was_ beautiful.

* * *

My siblings tried to convince me to just rest and let them do my chores. Chiron offered to let me take a few days off from teaching, but I declined his offer. I also got my siblings to let me keep on my schedule. This time it wasn't because I was afraid of being punished by Mr. D—at this point, any punishment I deserved. No, it was because I needed to be constantly moving, thinking of my next class, my next chore. I needed to keep what was left of my mind that wasn't focused on my chronic pain on anything but what'd happened.

Sometimes, though…sometimes it caught up to me. Usually at the end of the day. I'd just be eating dinner with my siblings when it hit my like a tidal wave, pulling me out to sea, unprepared and already exhausted. I couldn't fight it, I was drowning. I'd drop whatever was in my hands and have to run from the pavilion back to the cabin before breaking down completely. My siblings took turns on who would follow to make sure I was okay, to take my hand, to be my anchor.

I still hadn't found it in me to start singing again.

It got so bad, I started talking to my brother every day. Whether that be a quick text over our limited phones, or an IM when he had a few minutes. Sometimes it wasn't even a few minutes, but a few seconds—I'd IM him, just to see him, say hi. Ask how he was doing. And then he'd be off.

I needed a constant reminder of why I was still alive.

A few days passed and dinner was just finishing up. I was making myself so anxious just waiting for that anvil to drop on me, for my grief to overwhelm me. I was waiting for Chiron to end dinner and send the camp to the amphitheater. I was breathing a sigh of relief for managing to make it through one dinner when a voice that grated on my nerves pierced my eardrums.

"I'm impressed Victoria managed to make it through a whole dinner without running off in the middle," Drew said loud enough for me to hear, but not others. That ended as soon as I stood, slamming my hands down on my table.

The pavilion became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I felt their stares on me, but stared down at my half-empty plate, trying to restrain myself.

"Victoria," Cressida whispered, placing a hand over mine, still resting on the table. I glanced at her from the corners of my eyes. Cressida merely shook her head.

I slid my eyes back to my plate, taking a moment to decide. Closing my eyes and inhaling deeply I straightened up, taking my hands off the table. I opened my eyes again before looking over my shoulder, zeroing in on Drew. She had her eyes on me, watching. Waiting. I could see the smug little smile on her lips and had the sudden urge to punch it right off her. My hands curled in fists as I restrained myself from doing so.

"Drew," I said sweetly, moving away from my table and heading toward her's. My footsteps echoed on the marble floor and I could practically hear people holding their breaths. Drew's eyes widened, startled. Her smug little smile dropped and I tried not to smirk.

She was sitting at the end of her table, conveniently for me. I stopped at the end, facing Drew, meeting her eyes before glancing at what was on the table. Spotting what I wanted, I grabbed Drew's cup.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. My eyes went back to her. She started to reach forward.

"I think you've got something in your hair," I said, stopping her advances. Drew frowned, her hands going immediately to her hair, running her fingers through it. I took this time to whisper a single word, a drink, to the cup. The liquid inside shimmered and changed. I allowed myself a small smile.

"I think you need to get your eyes checked," Drew snarled back, when she didn't find anything. "What are you playing at? What do you want?"

I smiled widely. "I just wanted to give you this." I leaned forward, then, and poured the contents of my cup over her head. Drew shrieked and pulled away, but it was too late. I'd already emptied the cup. I pulled away, too, putting a hand on my hip and set the cup back down on the table. When her screams had died down to frantic, panicked gasping I said, "Got milk?"

Drew glared at me through milk-soaked hair, her chest heaving, but seemed too shocked and outraged to respond.

"That's for revealing my, _highly personal_ , business to the whole camp." Smirking, I turned and headed back to my table and sat down, like nothing had happened. My siblings stared me in shock, some of their mouths hanging open, some of them looked impressed and like they were holding back laughter. Will was shaking his head, looking down, eyes closed, his fingertips pressed to his forehead, but I could tell he was trying to fight a smile.

"Chiron!" Drew whined. I looked up at the head table. Chiron looked up from what looked to be a conversation with Alton. He blinked, looking shocked (well, I say shocked) at Drew's state. "You're not going to _do_ anything? Punish Victoria?"

Chiron furrowed his eyebrows and straightened up. "Why would I punish Victoria?"

"For _this!_ "

I looked over my shoulder to see Drew gesture to her head. I quickly looked back at Chiron to see what he'd do.

His eyes flickered to me. It was clear he'd seen what'd happened. I wasn't too worried. Even if he did punish me, there wasn't much more he could make me do, I was already doing the camp's laundry, helping with dishes, cleaning the stables, the rec room, and the outdoor restrooms.

Chiron looked back at Drew. "I'm afraid I was in a deep conversation with Alton and didn't see what happened."

I stifled my snicker. Others in the pavilion weren't so disciplined.

"I think it's quite obvious what she did," Drew spat.

"I'm sorry, Drew, but I didn't see it, so I can't punish Victoria for something she may or may not have done."

"I have witnesses!"

I looked back at the Aphrodite table to see if any of them would "stand up for her." Drew was glaring at them. I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and looked just in time to see someone grab someone else's hand. I moved my gaze higher to see it was Piper who'd taken Lacy's hand. Lacy was shifting uncomfortable in her seat, keeping her eyes fixed on the table. I felt my anger toward Drew spark again for abusing and terrifying such a young girl.

"I'm sorry, Drew," Chiron said, breaking me from my thoughts. I looked back at the head table. "But if no one is going to vouch for you there isn't much I can do." Chiron met my eyes again and I mouthed, "thank you." He inclined his head slightly and gave me a look, warning me I couldn't pull it off again, then he turned to address the rest of the camp. "Time for the campfire!"

Everyone cheered and started to get up from their seats, rushing to the amphitheater. All my siblings gave me worried looks but I waved them off. Though it was reluctant, they made their way out of the pavilion.

I stood slowly, smiling again and turned, only to see Drew still standing at her table, eyes narrowed, glaring daggers at me. I met her gaze evenly, crossing my arms, a smug smile on my face.

Piper finally approached her, blocking her view of me and said something too quiet for me to hear. I watched as Piper took Drew's arm and forcibly steered her out of the pavilion. I finally left, going straight to my cabin. All the excitement had caused my pain to flare enough I needed to take more pain meds. Also, I was avoiding the sing-along, afraid I might be requested to sing.

As I was coming out of the bathroom, after having taken my meds, a knock sounded at my door. I froze, staring at it suspiciously. Unsheathing my dagger I crept up to the door, opening it swiftly and gripping the hilt ready to strike. Only, the lanky Latino boy standing on the porch made me freeze and quickly hide my dagger behind my back. Thankfully, he had turned away from the door, giving me time to hide it before he turned back around.

"Leo?" I asked, confused as to why he was here and not at the campfire.

He grinned, but it was more nervous than easy-going. "Hey." I waited, but he didn't elaborate.

"What do you want?"

"Straight to the point, eh?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head, hunching his shoulder. "I noticed that you weren't going to the campfire. I thought, instead of just sitting around in your cabin, maybe you'd want to see Bunker Nine."

I frowned and furrowed my eyebrows. "You don't go the campfire?"

Leo's smile dropped. "Uh, no. I really have to finish the ship." He laughed, but it was half-hearted. When he spoke again, his voice wavered. "Jason hasn't given me much time and I'm building a high-tech, specialized trireme, you know." He swallowed hard. "What do you say? Invitation's still open."

I thought about this for a moment. He did have a point. At least I wouldn't be sitting around, left to my own thoughts until my siblings returned.

"Uh…sure," I finally said. "Let me just…I need to grab a few—grab something." I lied.

Leo's smile returned, more genuine this time. "Great! I'll just…wait here."

I managed a smile of my own before closing the door and sheathing my dagger, letting out a small breath. I felt bad for almost stabbing him and then for not visiting him when it was clear he felt lonely. I thought for sure his siblings would be helping him with the ship, but it sounded like he worked on it nearly 24/7, where his siblings had their activities, and breaks, and the campfire.

Besides, just his siblings may have been good company, but always working on the ship and not participating in other activities didn't really allow for friendships with other cabins to form. Most campers here didn't have the know-how to help him build, and they were just as busy with their own schedules to go hang out in Bunker 9.

I was also still baffled at his hospitality, his wanting to get to know me. Especially after what I had done to Drew tonight. Either he was extremely lonely and desperate or…maybe he understood in some way. Maybe he saw something in me that he saw in himself.

Realizing I was keeping him waiting, I took a deep breath before opening the door again and stepping out, closing it behind me.

I gestured forward with my arm. "Lead the way."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so… _huge_ chapter for you guys. Um, not too much to say.
> 
> The "got milk" scene is from a movie called _Model Behavior_. (That was a throwback.)
> 
> And, again, ya'll should _totally_ go check out lucifersfavoritechild's newest fanfic. It's _amazing_ so far. [Here's the link again](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9119404/chapters/20725789), so you don't have to scroll all the way up.
> 
> Title's from William Wordsworth's poem, "I wandered lonely as a cloud." It's one of my favorite poems, and the reason I made TJ's reincarnation a daffodil.
> 
> Thanks to all my readers and reviews, too. I appreciate and am so thankful to have you in my life, reading, and enjoying my story! It means so, _so_ much to me! So THANK YOU, all of you :)
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! I hope this soothed some of the pain from TJ's death. Comments are much appreciate! ^_^
> 
> Thank your for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	24. Truth or Happiness, Never Both

Our walk was silent as we made our way to the forest, but as we got closer and I realized just how dark it was, I slowed my pace.

"You sure you want to be alone with me?" I asked, coming to a stop at the edge of the woods.

Leo turned to face me with a nervous, but guarded expression. "Why? Are you going murder me?" Before I could answer, he continued on. "Don't you think that's a little cliché? In the woods?" He shook his head. "And I had more faith in you."

I rolled my eyes and snorted, trying not to smile. "You've been watching too much TV." I made a face at him before sobering up. "No, I only meant that if your siblings found out I was alone with you, _I'd_ be the one who gets murdered. Honestly, I'm just surprised you're even talking to me after what happened tonight at dinner."

"Can we walk and talk? I'd like to get some more work done on the ship before lights out." Leo jerked his head toward the dark forest.

I sighed, but started forward again. "All right."

Flame burst to life in the palm of Leo's hand as we continued forward, providing some light and even warmth. (Which was good, because I was afraid if I got too cold, I wouldn't be able to think past my prickles.) After a few yards, Leo finally said, "I've heard stuff about Drew." I could see in the firelight, he was frowning. "I don't like bullies. She got what she deserved. Honestly, I'm surprised what you did was so tame…for what she revealed." His eyes flickered up to me.

I met his gaze for a moment before looking away. "Do you think I'm lying?"

"No," he said immediately. I looked back at him in shock. "I believe you."

"If you've heard things about Drew, surely, you've heard things about me? Why are you still talking to me? Let alone walking into a dark forest alone with me?"

"I thought I told you to stop calling me Shirley," Leo replied. "And were back to that dark woods shtick again, eh?"

I blinked, startled. "But I didn't—" I broke off realizing, once again, he was making a joke. "Seriously though, how do you know that you're safe with me? As far as you know I betrayed the camp and worked with Kronos."

"Well, I know what my siblings have told me," he said, keeping his eyes straight ahead. "And I know what I saw the day I arrived." He paused then, as if contemplating something.

"And what did you see?" I asked quietly, only glancing at him through the corners of my eyes.

Leo thought for a few moments longer. The longer he thought, the more nervous I got. "Someone who cares for their siblings that much doesn't fit how my cabin described you to me. So I decided to make my own judgements." He paused again. "I know how it feels to be judged by rumors and appearance alone. It wouldn't be fair if I did the same to you."

"I wish a lot of people shared your mindset," I muttered, looking away.

"Most people can't be as awesome as I am," he said casually, causing my head to snap back to him, again. To my surprise, a laugh bubbled up to the surface. Leo gave me a sideways glance before smiling and looking in front of him again.

The rest of the walk was silent. I found I enjoyed his company. It was a tad bit awkward, because I felt like I should talk to him, but since I didn't know anything about him other than the basics, I wasn't sure what to say. I had a feeling that's also why he was so silent. When the trees morphed into taller, thicker trees that blotted out what little light the moon and star provided, and the darkness seemed to grow even darker, I unconsciously moved closer to Leo. The forest floor had even changed, softened into something almost spongey because of, what I assumed, were pine needles.

Honestly, It was comforting to know I wasn't alone, but also if anything came leaping out of the darkness, I'd be prepared to protect Leo.

Finally, though, we came to a large dead end—a wall of rock loomed before us. Leo stopped a few feet away from the wall.

"Wait here," he said before taking the last few steps forward and pressing his hand, still on fire, up against a spot on the wall. A small circle of flame burst to life and Leo stepped back as the flame made thin trails outward. I watched in awe as the thin trails formed a door, which then slowly swung open. I was stunned at how silent it was for something so huge. And made from solid rock.

Leo started forward, lights flickering on inside, but I was still taking it in and didn't follow. Half-way through the doorway, he turned and realized I wasn't with him. He grinned, his eyes alight with a mischievous glint.

"Come on, it's even cooler in side." He waved his hand, gesturing me forward. My head still reeling over the door, I slowly walked toward him, through the threshold, and tried to take in what I saw.

Bunker 9 was amazing, to the say the least.

It was easily the size of an aircraft hangar, carved right out of the mountain or whatever it was. A banner hung above everything, indicating that this was, indeed, Bunker 9. Work tables lined the sides from front to back, with tools, trinkets, and mechanical parts on them. Catwalks lined the sides of the ceiling, from front to back. Hanging up in the rafters and on the walls were more tools, weapons, schematics, and plans for other machines. To my left was the trireme. I knew triremes were big, but you don't quite grasp _how_ big until you're standing right next to one.

Right now it was bare bones, with some weird, spherical thing sitting in the middle. Large tubes filled with different liquids stuck out from it.

"Told you it was cooler, didn't I?" Leo asked, breaking me from my trance. My eyes wandered over to him and I nodded. Then I realized my mouth was hanging open and quickly closed it, trying to gather my thoughts.

"It's…quite impressive," I commented, nearly laughing. "So, you have a name for this?' I asked pointing to the ship.

"Yeah, the _Argo II_ ," he answered. "Because this mission we're being sent on is kind of like the originally story of Jason and the Argonauts." A jolt ran through me at that, reminding me that Orpheus had been on the original _Argo_ , with Proper Jason. But I kept these thoughts to myself. The line of the prophecy had said, seven half-bloods, so seven half-bloods would be the only ones making the journey to Greece. And I knew for sure, I wasn't one of them.

Realizing he was waiting for me to respond, I hurriedly said, "Um, yeah…good name. Makes sense."

"Wasn't _quite_ the response I was hoping for, but…it'll do."

Suddenly something whistled, like steam being forcibly pushed from a small space. I looked in the direction of the noise in alarm, grabbing the hilt of my sword.

"Whoa, whoa, it's all right," Leo exclaimed, holding up his hands in a surrender gesture. "That's just Buford."

I looked at Leo strangely, not letting go of my sword's hilt. "Who?"

Leo grinned. "Buford, the Wonder Table." Right on cue, Buford appeared. I balked. The name had said it all. It was a mahogany table, with a round top and three, moving legs. It was maybe three feet high and had steam vents sticking up on one side. There was a single drawer.

"This is really weird," I told him, my eyes going back to Leo. Buford whistled again, higher pitched this time, and started toward me, but Leo intercepted.

"She doesn't mean that," he assured quickly. For a moment, Buford stood, puffing smoke, before either deciding it wasn't worth it or Leo was telling the truth and walked off. Leo relaxed and turned to face me again. "He's kind of sensitive." Then in a lower voice. "And picky."

I laughed. "All right. I mean…I suppose I really can't say much. I've seen weirder things."

"Would you like to see the blueprints for the ship?" Leo asked.

"Sure."

Leo started toward a table off to the side of the ship. I followed, and went to stand next to him.

"Now this is just the blueprint for the engine, which what's sitting in the middle of the ship right now." He turned and pointed to the spherical thing before turning back to the prints and taking one from underneath, setting it on top. "This is for the lowest deck. Most of it contains the engine room, but next to that will be storage areas with extra supplies, and next to that, at the stern, will be the stables for pegasi, if needed. Forward, at the bow, will be the sickbay."

He pulled out another blueprint from underneath, laying that one on top of the other two. "This is the upper level, containing all our cabins, the galley and the mess hall." He pulled yet another blueprint out from underneath the other three and laid that one on top. "This is the top deck. I plan to have crossbows on the stern and bow, and railing shields to ward off monsters and mask our scent—seven demigods together is quite the flare. There'll also be ballistae amidships, and a battering ram at the bow. I'm also planning on making aerial and aquatic oars so we can fly, but also sail when needed.

"They'll be two masts, and Festus, over there"—he pointed to the giant head of his bronze dragon lying on a large metal table a few yards to our left—"will be the masthead."

"Is he going to be sentient again?" I asked.

Leo looked back at Festus and I saw his shoulder's droop slightly and when he spoke, his voice had lost some of its enthusiasm. "Yeah."

I frowned, wondering if I'd done something to evoke this response. "If I've said something wrong—"

Leo whipped around with wide eyes. "No, that's not it at all. It's just…well, I miss him." He shrugged and looked away, embarrassed. His hand went up to pick at the blueprints on the table. "I'm…better with machines than I am people. Sometimes. Most of the time." Then he let out a big breath that sounded close to a groan. "I don't even know why I'm telling you all this. You gotta be _at least_ a Level Ten friend to unlock my tragic backstory." He laughed, but I could tell it was forced.

I decided to ignore it for now, realizing his humor was his defense mechanism like ignoring my feelings and sometimes acting out violently was mine.

"Wow, Level Ten? That seems a bit high, don't you think?" I asked.

Leo seemed relieved that I'd didn't press and finally looked at me again. "Well, tragic backstories are pretty serious. I don't make the rules." He shrugged and turned back to the blueprints. "All right, time to get working on this engine. I've still got so much work to do before I can even begin everything else." He pulled the blueprint for the engine out again, laying it on top.

I watched with interest as he studied the prints before running over to the ship, climbing up into it and going over to the engine. I blinked in surprise when he started pulling tools from his toolbelt that you'd never expect to be in or be able to fit in a toolbelt. It was almost like magic…

"You want to come up and see what I'm doing?" Leo called, looking back at me momentarily.

"Uh…sure." I climbed up the way he had, maybe a bit slower and more careful, before standing next to him and leaning into look at what he was looking at. Then he started describing what it was as he worked, but it was completely lost on me. I _was not_ made for this technical stuff. I wasn't very good with my hands, either. Maybe when it came to drawing an arrow, or hand-to-hand combat, but building things? No.

Instead, I mostly watched Leo, because when he was working, he seemed happier than I'd seen him thus far. _Genuinely_ happy. None of that fake, joking happiness. It was just nice to see he could find a little place in this crazy life where he could just _be_.

Leo broke of suddenly and looked at me with a sheepish expression.

"I'm sorry, I'm probably boring you out of your skull right now," he apologized.

I pulled back and laughed. "I mean, I'll admit that I don't understand a single word, but I actually like watching you work."

Leo straightened up too, raising an eyebrow with a suggestive look on his face. "I thought you said I was too young for you."

I gave him a look before putting a hand on his shoulder and leaning closer to him with a really serious expression. Leo's face went red and he gulped. "You _are_ too young for me." I pulled away then and Leo relaxed, letting out a breath. "What's the matter? Never been this close to a pretty girl?"

"Oh, har, har, so funny!" He stuck his tongue out at me. "And for your information, I've been next to Piper, so there."

"And who would you say is prettier?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips as he leaned in to do more work. Now I was just messing with him.

Leo pulled back and shook his tool—I didn't recognize it—at me. "This is exactly how the Trojan War got started, you know that right?"

I put a hand to my chest. "I'm flattered. You think I'm pretty enough to be a goddess?"

"Besides, which," Leo spluttered. " _How_ can you even ask that of me? Piper, for one is the daughter of _Aphrodite_. For two, she's my friend. And you're my—" He broke off suddenly, looking a little lost. He wouldn't meet my gaze.

I raised an eyebrow. "You're…what?" I prompted.

Leo shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, friend, too? This is like the second time I've ever interacted with you."

"Our friendship is budding," I suggested, my mind going to Nico for some reason. Maybe because we'd had the same dilemma. Of course, I'd hung out with Nico a lot more when we'd had that conversation.

"Exactly! So how can you ask me to choose? That seems like a recipe for disaster."

"I won't be offended if you say Piper. Aphrodite _is_ the goddess of beauty."

Leo was quiet for a moment before he said in a low voice, "Okay, don't tell anyone I said this, but you and your siblings are pretty decent looking, too. Compared to the children of Aphrodite."

"Don't let Apollo hear you say that." I rolled my eyes and sat down on one of the beams of the ship. "That'd only feed his ego." I could almost imagine him appearing suddenly and arguing with me on this point. I was almost afraid he would. Then I remembered all the gods had gone silent in the middle of December last year.

"But you have to admit, Apollo is also a really good-looking god, so it'd make sense that his children would also be pretty good-looking."

"I've honestly never even thought about it," I told him, shrugging.

"Don't let Apollo hear you say _that_." Leo laughed. I smiled and shook my head. "Okay, okay, now I _really_ do need to work on this."

I made a circular motion with my hand and inclined my head to indicate he could continue on whenever he was ready.

Both he and I got so caught up in his work, however, that when I checked my watch I realized it was an hour after the campfire had ended.

"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed, standing. Leo jumped and looked at me, startled. "I have to get back to my cabin. They'll be worried about me. Shit, shit, shit!" I jumped from the ship and onto the floor. "Um…think you could lead us back through the forest quickly?" I asked, looking up at him, realizing I had no idea how to get back. Also, I didn't exactly have a light source.

"Uh, yeah, sure thing." Leo quickly dropped his tools back into his belt before getting down. Together, we exited at a brisk pace. I looked over my shoulder as we made our way through the trees to see the last of the lights flicker out and the door close, not making a single noise. Then I faced forward, not wanting to trip or crash into anything.

By the time we'd made it to the edge of the forest, we were both panting.

"Sorry, it's just…my siblings can get really worried if I kind of just disappear." I half-gasped, as we made our way to the green. My chronic pain had decided to make a sudden resurgence.

"You didn't leave a note?" Leo asked, his chest heaving.

"I wasn't really thinking about it," I admitted. Finally, we got to the green, sliding in between, coincidentally, the Apollo and Hephaestus cabins. My siblings were standing outside our cabin, talking about scouting plans, who would go where.

"Guys, it's fine, I'm right here," I called, waving my arm to get their attention. The ones who weren't facing my direction spun around. Suddenly they were all rushing toward me. I tensed and my hand twitched but I forced it to stay at my side as they engulfed me in a group hug.

"We were so worried about you!"

"Why didn't you leave a note?"

"How could you do something like that after everything that's happened?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I said, trying not to panic at how claustrophobic I was starting to feel. "I…I thought I'd be back before the campfire ended." They finally pulled back, giving me breathing room and personal space. I took a deep breath, my panic slowly subsiding.

Will gripped my shoulders. "Where _were_ you?"

"I was with Leo," I told him, gesturing to the boy still standing beside me. He grinned and wiggled his fingers.

"'Sup," he greeted.

My siblings blinked, their gazes going back to me. Will's hands dropped from my shoulders.

"Really?" Austin asked.

I let out a sharp sigh, suddenly annoyed. " _Why_ is that so shocking?"

"Um…maybe because he's the head counselor of the Hephaestus cabin?" Lyra suggested.

"And, in case you forgot," Kayla started, finishing in a stage whisper, "they kind of hate you."

"I'll explain later—" I started.

"Speaking of—incoming," Reed muttered under his breath. And I had just enough time to look over to my right to see some of the Hephaestus children approach our group. While Shane subtly grabbed Leo's arm and pulled him away from me, Nyssa shoved her way between me and Leo, forcing me to take a few steps back.

"What do you think you're doing?" she growled.

I snorted. "I'm not going to answer you if you address me like that."

"Guys," Leo tried. "It's fine."

Nyssa looked over her shoulder at their head counselor. "You don't understand, Leo. She's the reason we were cursed in the first place!" She looked back at me. "You're lucky you came back _alive._ "

I stepped toward her, my anger flaring up dangerously. "Now that's _really_ uncalled for." I said in a dangerously calm voice, getting into her face.

"Tell that to TJ," Nyssa spat back.

White hot rage covered my vision and I reached for my sword.

"Whoa, okay!" Will exclaimed, jumping between me and Nyssa. "That's enough," he said in that calming, but firm voice. "It's way past lights out. We should all head back to our cabins. _Now._ "

I continued to glare at Nyssa, breathing hard, my hands still at my sword. Tears had sprung in my eyes, but my rage kept them at bay. How dare she even bring that up!

" _Victoria,_ " Will said sternly, gripping my shoulders. I continued to glare at Nyssa, blood roaring in my ears. Finally, he moved in front of me, so it was only him I saw. Still breathing hard, nearly gasping now, I looked down, trying to get my anger and hurt under control.

Putting his arm around me, Will started leading me away from the Hephaestus kids, but I glanced back and met Leo's eyes. I easily spun out of Will's embrace, but he quickly grabbed my arm before I could make it very far.

"Victoria," he warned. I glanced back at him, his eyes were hard.

"I just want to thank Leo," I told him. He looked at me skeptically. "I swear on the Styx. I've got it under control." Reluctantly, Will loosened his grip before dropping his hand. I turned to face Leo again, who was still standing behind Nyssa. Shane still had a hold of his arm.

"And I'd like to remind my siblings," Leo started, yanking his arm from Shane's grasp, "that I'm head counselor, so I can decide who I hang out with, thank you." With a quick sweeping glare to all of them, he stepped past Nyssa and came up to me.

"Thanks for showing me Bunker 9," I said. Nyssa made a choking noise, but didn't say anything. "We should do this more often."

Leo grinned. "Agreed. Have a good night, Victoria."

I smiled. "You, too." With that, I turned and headed back to my cabin with my siblings.

* * *

It was the night after having visited Bunker 9 and the emotional rollercoaster I was currently on—and, in all honesty, had never gotten off since I'd first found out Luke had been working with Kronos—had plummeted. I was almost hoping Leo would invite me to Bunker 9 again because it was nice to have been distracted so much that I barely even noticed the ache in my chest, the weight of my guilt, the pain of TJ's loss.

My busy day had managed to distract me, but it was almost always dinnertime when I could no longer hold myself together. I barely had anything to think about to distract me, and I was exhausted from working so hard and my chronic pain. I barely had any energy left to keep my emotions in check.

I'd picked at about a quarter of my dinner when I stopped feeling hungry. I could feel it building, the dam about to burst. I let out a breath, setting my fork down. I debated about whether or not I should just leave. If I was bound to have a breakdown, it'd be easier to get up and calmly make my way to the cabin instead of jumping up and sprinting like I usually did.

Before I could decide, however, someone slid in next to me, facing away from the table. Tonight, I was sitting on the other side of the table, farthest away from the brazier. This left some space at the very end of the table, which this person had taken advantage of.

I looked up, startled, and was surprised to see Nick. My eyes flickered over to Chiron, who was currently chatting with another satyr, before going back to Nick. Around the dining pavilion, people had already started whispering.

I turned to face him, folding my leg and resting it on the bench. Leaning toward him, I said quietly, "What are you doing?" I hissed, looking around. Campers were eyeing us, their whispers growing.

"I wanted to show you a magic trick," Nick answered in a low voice. "I thought it might…raise your spirits a bit."

"You can't be here."

"It'll be quick, I promise. I just want to show you one trick."

"Then do it after one of my classes. Not now!"

"You avoid me after class." I looked at him, confused. Did I really? "Please?" Nick prodded.

I glanced back at Chiron, who was now pointedly ignoring us. I looked back at Nick. "Make it quick."

Nick grinned before producing a red, fuzzy pompom about the size of a golf ball.

"Watch," he said before pressing his palms together and turning his hands before pulling them away with a flourish while showing me his palms to show me the pompom had disappeared.

"That all?" I asked, not impressed.

Nick looked mock offended. "Watch," he repeated before throwing his hands forward like he was grasping at something, closing his hands around empty air. He met my eyes for a moment before turning his fists over and opening them. This time, each hand held a slightly smaller red pompom. I narrowed my eyes slightly, definitely becoming more impressed, but waited.

He closed his hands again and turned them over. "Okay, now guess which hand they're in."

I looked at him. "What?"

"Just pick." He held his closed fists out more. I looked at him for a moment before pointing to his right hand. Slowly, Nick turned it over and opened his fingers. The pompom had disappeared.

"Okay, the other one." I said, leaning forward, now pretty impressed because I could've sworn he hadn't moved his hands other than to turn them over. Grinning, Nick turned his left fist over and opened his hand revealing nothing again.

"Oh…I think—" He broke off and hesitantly reached toward my shoulder, his eyebrows furrowed. "You've got something…" He touched my shoulder like he was brushing something off it. With another flourish of his hand, he was suddenly holding the two pompoms he'd made disappear. I was a little less impressed because I'd seen _that_ trick, and its many variations, before.

"Okay, one last thing. Give me your hand." Nick held out his right hand, the pompoms in his left.

I looked at him skeptically but rested my hand, palm up in his. Nick set the pompoms in my palm before closing my fingers.

"Okay, now squeeze as tight as you can," he told me, covering my hands with his. I humored him, squeezing my closed fist as hard as I could. "Okay, now…open." Nick removed his hands and I opened mine, gasping when at least a dozen smaller pompoms sprung up in my palm.

"No way!" I exclaimed, shoving his shoulder with my free hand.

Nick grinned and snickered. "You can keep those."

I shook my head, smiling. "There's no way you did that without using actual magic."

Nick raised his right hand. "Swore on the Styx, remember?"

Just then, Chiron cleared his throat. I looked over at him, remembering we were in the dinning pavilion and that what Nick was doing was against the rules. I turned back to Nick.

"I'd better get going," Nick said, making a guilty-is-charged face. "Before I get in trouble."

"Wait, you have to tell me how you did that!" I said, reaching out to grab his wrist as he stood.

"Sorry, a magician never reveals his secrets," he said with a smirk, slipping his arm from my grasp and bowing.

I scoffed and turned back to the table as he quickly scurried back to his. I set the pompoms on the table, shaking my head, an incredulous smile pulling at my lips. I made the mistake of glancing up, at my siblings. They were all grinning from ear to ear. Cressida, Lyra, and Reed were struggling to stifle their laughter.

My face flushed and I felt my heart beat irregularly in my chest. I tried to mask this with anger.

" _What?_ " I snapped at them.

That caused them all to burst out laughing.

"You guys are insufferable," I muttered, turning to face my plate and playing with my braid, embarrassed. When I thought they were too busy laughing, I snuck a peek over my shoulder at the Hecate table. I found Nick's eyes easily. He smiled and winked. I couldn't help the answering smile that stretched across my lips. I quickly turned back to my plate, though, not wanting to get caught by my siblings. I'd never hear the end of it if that happened.

* * *

"Will you _please_ stop pacing," Will complained lowering his bow and arrow to glare at me. I was teaching my elementary archery class. In fact, it had just started and I had just started the kids on strengthening exercises, except for Will.

I stopped momentarily to glare right back at him. "I can't help it, I'm nervous," I told him before picking my pacing up again. Unfortunately, my nerves were also doing a number of my chronic pain, which was annoying.

"Why?" Will asked.

I stopped again and whipped around to look at my half-brother. "Chiron called me to the Big House early this morning." I went up to Will and lowered my voice. "Apparently, Captain America is going to be joining this class. Chiron also told me he was going to be joining my Advanced Swordsmanship class."

"He has a name, you know," Will said, completely ignoring the rest of the information I'd just told him. I gave him a look.

"I know that—"

"What is it, then—?"

"Jason." I snapped. Will frowned slightly, his bottom lip jutting out.

"Why is that ruffling your feathers, then?" he finally asked.

"'Ruffling my feathers'?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow. Will shrugged. "I don't know…something about him just kind of…unsettles me."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Will assured. "It's probably because he's a child of the Big Three. Percy always gives off that vibe until you get to know him better."

I frowned. "Yeah, I guess." Just then, I heard footsteps approaching. "Get back to work."

"Yes, ma'am," Will mocked, giving me a face. I made a face back at him before turning to greet Chiron and Jason who were a few yards away.

"Good morning, Victoria," Chiron greeted. I bowed politely, a habit I still hadn't been able to break, despite Chiron's assurances it was okay not to bow.

"Good morning," I said. I held out my hand for my new student, because we'd never been formally introduced before. "Jason, right?" I asked.

He nodded stiffly, taking my hand and giving it a firm shake before quickly letting go. I looked back up at his face. His eyes were guarded, but also almost…calculating. His face was stern, stoic, revealing nothing. I couldn't tell if it was just his Roman side coming out or something else, though.

"Well, sounds like you've got everything under control. I will see you both later." Chiron said, nodding to each of us. "Victoria. Jason."

I bowed again, out of habit. "Chiron."

Chiron, then, swiftly trotted off.

I looked at Jason. "You're bow and quiver are just over here." I jerked my head in the direction to one of the bales of hay before heading toward it. Jason followed silently. I could feel his eyes on my back, and it was really starting to bother me.

I picked up his bow and quiver, handing them over to him.

"Since you're new," I started as he slung the quiver over his shoulder. "I'll be working closely with you today to make sure you're using the right technique. Follow me, please." I went over to the last empty target, which was next to Will's.

"Okay, let's begin." I let my bow spiral out from my ring. For the first time, I saw a hint of emotion flash across his face: surprise. At least I knew he was still half-human. I began by demonstrating the stance to take, how to hold the bow, and looked to see if the tension matched his strength. Then I taught him the basics of nocking an arrow.

As he practiced pulling an arrow from his quiver and notching it correctly, I got the rest of the class started on their arrows. I was happy to see they were all improving. That meant I was a good teacher, but also they were putting effort into it.

"Think you're ready to shoot some arrows?" I asked Jason.

He nodded once. "Sure." He took his stance, notching an arrow and let it fly. Well, tried to. It mostly flopped, gaining little air before diving into the ground. Jason frowned and took a deep breath. I narrowed my eyes, watching him carefully as he nocked another arrow. By the fifth arrow, he was scowling, his eyebrows mashed together.

Jason was about to make another attempt when he suddenly lowered his bow and arrow, letting out a sharp sigh and looked over at me. Those startling, piercing blue eyes and that fierce expression on his face reminded me of Percy. It was, honestly, weird.

"I would appreciate it if you stopped staring at me," he said. "It's making it kind of hard to concentrate."

I crossed my arms and shifted onto my other foot. "I'm watching your technique," I explained.

Jason waited and when it was obvious I wasn't going to elaborate he said, " _Well_?"

"Sloppy," I told him honestly. He blinked, taken aback, either by my comment or my forwardness. "I don't think you're trying. At all."

"May I speak frankly?" Jason asked.

"Please, do."

"Archery, to Romans, is pointless unless you're a child of Apollo."

"Then why are you here?"

Jason looked down, shifting on his feet before looking back up at me. "Chiron…convinced me to try it out." I eyed him, skeptically, looking at his body language.

_He's lying._

"Well, then, I guess you'll just have to suck it up and start putting more effort into it." I told him, giving him the barest hint of a smile without any humor.

Jason turned to face the target. "That doesn't stop it from being pointless. I'm not a child of Apollo."

I put my hands on my hips. "And yet," I started. "There are Olympic archers who aren't demigods at all. How do you think _they_ got so good?" I asked walking around to Jason's other side. "I thought Romans _valued_ hard work." Those electric blue eyes flickered to me and I simply smiled again before turning and starting to walk down the line of kids.

As I passed Will's left side, he met my eyes for a split second. I winked, which caused him to smile.

I spent the rest of the class helping the younger kids out, leaving Will, Nick, and Jason to their own devices.

"All right, class dismissed!" I called. "Jason, I'd like to speak with you."

I was finally able to take some ibuprofen, as the kids gathered their arrows and put them back into their quivers before setting both their bows and quivers on the hay bale. Jason was the last one to set his things down. I was leaning against the bale, my arms cross, trying to ignore the pin-pricks.

Jason took a step back and waited, crossing his arms over his chest as well.

"I know you were lying about why you're in my class. What's the real reason?" I asked, cocking my head slightly to the side.

Jason blinked, surprise flashing across his face. "How did you know—?"

I pushed away from the bale, dropping my arms, and said, "My father is the god of truth." I walked a few steps past Jason before turning to face him again. "Something I expect from my students."

Jason straightened up, fixing those blue eyes on me. "Both the Hephaestus and Aphrodite cabins hate you. I've been warned, multiple times, not to sneak up on or startle you lest you attack me with your sword or shoot me with one of your arrows. Just now, you bowed to Chiron, _twice_ , but I haven't seen anyone else do that here. Annabeth tells me you're an okay person, but I can tell that you and she haven't had the best relationship up to this point. And then there's that night when you poured _milk_ over Drew for, what? Some petty revenge?"

"Your point?" I asked, feeling a twinge of anger at his "petty revenge" comment. _How_ could he possibly think that pouring milk over her was some kind of petty revenge when she revealed something so personal about me to the _entire_ camp? What went on inside this kid's brain? Moreover, _how_ was he friends with Leo? The guy who'd, a few nights ago, told me he didn't judge based on looks or rumors.

"What am _I_ supposed to think of you?" Jason asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I shrugged. "Anything you want, that's what everyone else does." I paused, gauging his reaction. "…but you've already made your decision, haven't you?"

Jason nodded, his eyes flashing. Percy's image appeared in my mind's eye. They were _so_ much alike. Both young. Both sons of the Big Three. Both able to look older than they actually were. Except, this time was different. I could tell my relationship with Jason was going to much more…hostile.

"I don't trust you. At all." Jason finally said.

"Get in line, kid," I scoffed. Jason frowned at my comment, reminding me yet again of Percy. "So then why join my classes?"

The frown turned into a smirk. "Keep your friends close," he started.

"And your enemies closer," I finished, a grudging smile pulling at my lips.

"May I go now?" Jason asked.

I gestured back toward the camp, not saying a word. Jason headed off and I watched him go.

What an interesting turn of events.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, another long chapter for ya'll! Um, not much to say, really. Surprisingly, this chapter came to me pretty easily, which was nice.
> 
> Credit for the "think whatever you want" part to _Lie to Me_. (I've been waiting to use that line for, like, ever.)
> 
> Also, title credit goes to _Lie to Me_ as well. It's one of the main character's lines.
> 
> As always, hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	25. Pink, Brown, Yellow, Orange, and Blue

I was just about to start the van when the passenger's side door, and the door to the backseat opened up. My siblings, excitedly chattering, flooded in and I froze. Will hopped into the passenger's side, grinning. They were all purposefully ignoring me.

I'd been about to head to Dan's performance of  _Les Mis_ , which I'd almost forgotten about because of everything that'd happened since our birthday. Thankfully, Chiron had called me to the Big House and reminded me. But I wasn't sure what my siblings were doing.

"What's going on?" I asked loudly, over their chatter, glaring at the ones in the back through the rearview mirror. They all paused and looked at me.

"We're going to see Dan's performance," Will explained.

"Just like you!" Lyra chirped.

I glared at them through the rearview mirror. " _What?_ "

"Chiron's allowing us to go! Isn't that exciting?" Cressida squealed.

"I'm excited. It's been a while since we've seen Dan." Austin added.

"We'd better get going if we don't want to be late." Kayla met my eyes through the mirror. " _You_  may have your ticket already, but we still need to buy ours."

"What about the campfire?" I asked, not moving a muscle.

"Chiron said he'd figure something out." Will shrugged. "We didn't exactly question him. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the campfire, but I haven't been to one of Dan's performances in a  _long_  time."

"All of us haven't," Austin said.

Letting out a half-groan, half-sigh I finally started the van. "Seatbelts," I reminded as I pulled out of the driveway. I'd been looking forward to the quiet drive. Despite being by myself, I liked driving. It was comforting. Now that had been thrown out the window.

I thought they'd continue to chatter, instead they did something worse: they started singing our camp songs.

The pine tree was still in my rearview mirror when I couldn't take it anymore.

"You know," I exclaimed, gripping the steering wheel with both hands and trying not to press my foot down on the pedal too hard. "You  _can_  sing different songs right?"

"All right, then," Reed said, crossing his arms. "What do you propose we sing?"

"Anything but the camp songs,  _please_ ," I replied.

"You can't complain about our song choice and then not give us an alternative!" Kayla exclaimed.

I flinched and hunched my shoulders at her outburst, trying to keep my focus mainly on the road. It was a good thing I'd taken some extra pain meds with me.

"How about The Beatles," I suggested flippantly. Not that I didn't like the Beatles, but because I was trying to focus on not crashing. I wasn't used to so many people at once, and rowdy, loud ones at that. Usually, it was me, a satyr, and a scared, quiet demigod. Under the pressure of a monster chasing us made it easier to focus and for others to stay silent and let me concentrate.

"Do you  _know_  how many songs they have?" Austin asked.

I gritted my teeth and tried not to growl. I glanced over at Will, who'd been surprisingly quiet, to see it was because he was shaking with silent laughter.

I sighed and slumped in my seat, then. It was pointless. I took a deep breath, straightening up and started singing "All Together Now." I spent the first half of the song singing it by myself, probably because they were all shocked that I was singing at all, before, slowly, one by one, they joined me.

And it was the most fun I'd had in a long time.

So we sang a bunch of Beatles songs all the way to Dan's school, making a quick stop for flowers, of course.

We arrived early, before the house was open, and I loitered off to the side with my two bouquets (one for Dan, one for Antoinette) while my siblings got their tickets, hopefully next to me or near my seats.  _Les Mis_  was popular and people could also purchase their tickets online, so it was a tossup. I was actually relieved when they came over to me and had managed to get seats around me. Not exactly in a perfect line, but we'd be in more of huddle, which was better in my opinion.

"I can't believe you bring those with you," Cressida said, shaking her head and nudging my sword.

"I can never be too careful," I muttered thinking about the last time I'd come to one of Dan's performances. And then every time I simply stepped out of the border. I just hoped something like that didn't happen again. I was hoping and praying. To whom? I wasn't sure. I didn't exactly trust any of the gods to do anything.

We shuffled in when the house opened and took our seats. My siblings quietly chattered about camp and the latest gossip. I didn't mind just sitting back, the bouquets in my lap, and taking in the theater. I always did this when I came to a performance. I so loved and missed the theater. The lights, the sounds, the smells, being up in the catwalks, helping backstage, costumes, props…the list went on and on.

By the time the lights dimmed in the house, signaling the beginning of the show, nearly all the seats, if not all, were filled up. I held my breath as the murmuring quieted down, the curtain opened, and the music started.

I felt the burn of tears in my eyes when Dan appeared on stage, in those  _ridiculous_  mutton chops. I had cover my mouth with my hand to stifle a laugh. The relief I felt to see him alive, happy, and doing well was painful.

To my pleasant surprise, nothing happened. Nothing went wrong. When it had ended, my siblings and I quickly exited the theater, excited for the meet-and-greet. We spotted him with a group of, I assumed, his friends and made our way over. Dan was…surprised, to say the least. He certainly hadn't been expecting the whole cabin. I gave Dan and Antoinette their bouquets. Dan pulled me into a hug, and I was surprised when Antoinette did, too. I didn't miss that they took each other's hands as soon as Antoinette had pulled away. I felt a familiar ache spring up in my chest, but I fought to suppress it.

They both introduced us to their friends and their friends to us…well, to the rest of the cabin at least. I knew them well enough now, having come to all of Dan's productions at this point. We all talked about the performance. Some of Dan and Antoinette's friends insisted on knowing more about Dan and I's half-siblings.

It was getting late and most of the audience had filtered out by now. Only a few people remained. Luther, who'd played Valjean, came over to our group. He slapped Dan on the back before putting his arm around Dan's and Antoinette's shoulders, grinning at all of us. We all complimented him on his performance before he turned to me of all people.

"Victoria!" he greeted. "We've missed you! Our plays have never been able to live up to that one night."

"Luther, you were knocked out the whole time," Antoinette deadpanned.

"Yeah, but you should  _hear_  the stories." Luther winked at me and I couldn't help but smile. "You're a legend, now, girl."

"You flatter me," I replied, feeling the blush in my face.

"She sings, too," Dan said suddenly.

"Dan!" I exclaimed, glaring at him.

"Ah, even better! You would've been a great addition to our cast," Luther said before looking at Dan and Antoinette. "What do you think? Cosette? Or maybe…Fantine," Then he looked back at me. "What's your range?"

I opened my mouth to tell him when Cressida butted in, "Why doesn't she just give you a demonstration?"

My jaw dropped and I turned my glare to her. She gave me a smug look. I quickly turned back to the group and tried to decline, but they insisted. My siblings stood by silently, probably dying from laughter on the inside.

"Okay, okay," I acquiesced, holding up my hands in a surrender gesture. "Who has a suggestion that's short and sweet?"

"Oh, I know! 'Reflection' from  _Mulan_ ," Winnie suggested. She was one of Dan's friends, not in the production.

I tried not to groan and instead exchanged a glance with Dan as the rest of the group agreed. He gave me an impish smile and shrugged. I narrowed my eyes at him for a fraction of a second before turning my attention back to the group. I looked around at all of them—they were all eagerly waiting. I lowered my gaze, took a deep breath, and started to sing.

When I finished, and looked up, people were wiping their eyes. I clicked my tongue. "I really wish people would stop crying when I sing." I muttered, causing the group to laugh.

"Fantine, she would've made a great Fantine," Luther said, pointing to me but looking between Dan and Antoinette. They nodded in agreement.

We chatted for a few more minutes before Dan's friends departed. Luther went back to the dressing room to change and clean up. Which left me, my siblings and Antoinette.

"We'd better clean up, too," Dan said, gesturing toward the doors that only cast and crew used. "Um, Victoria, you don't mind sticking around? I…wanted to talk to you."

I blinked. "Uh…no, no I don't mind at all."

"We'll be right back," Dan said before he and his girlfriend turned and headed off.

As soon as the doors closed, I said, "You told him about Gaea, didn't you?" not even looking at my siblings, knowing they would know what I was talking about.

"What did you expect us to do?" Will asked.

"It wasn't like  _you_  were going to tell him, anyway," Lyra added. I turned to glare at her.

"Not helping," I hissed. "I was waiting for a better time. I didn't want him to feel obligated to come back to camp."

"Dan deserved to know," Kayla said defensively. "He could tell something else was wrong, that there was more to TJ's death."

"I'm not saying he didn't," I told her. "I just wish you'd tell me if you were going to talk to him. I think he'd appreciate it if, sometimes, he heard things from  _me_."

"Well you hadn't told him when you first started talking with him more," Reed mumbled, not meeting my gaze. "He kept asking us what else was wrong. And we felt bad about keeping it from him."

I sighed. "Whatever. What's done is done." I turned back around, putting my hands on my hips. I was more annoyed with myself than I was with my siblings, honestly. I always felt bad for not talking to Dan more about what went on in my life, regardless of whether or not I was doing it to try and keep him away from demigod shit.

Being reminded of my failure to be a good sibling was just frustrating because it seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I still managed to somehow fuck it up.

When Dan and Antoinette finally came out again, dressed in civilian clothes, Dan went up to me, his eyes searching. They flickered momentarily behind me as he said, "Do you guys mind if I steal her for the night?"

"If you don't mind if we steal Antoinette for the night," Kayla said, grinning and going up to Dan's girlfriend.

Dan looked shocked, but slowly nodded. "All right," he said cautiously.

"We should get to know our brother's girlfriend, after all, right?" Reed elaborated with a mischievous grin. I suddenly wondered what they were up to.

Dan turned toward the rest of our siblings who were now surrounding Antoinette, who had her shoulders hunched, her hair falling around her face like a veil.

"Be nice to her," Dan hissed.

"You should worry more about yourself," Cressida commented before looking at Antoinette. "Do we have  _stories_." Antoinette lifted her head a little to meet my half-sister's eyes and giggled.

"Embarrassing stories," Austin added. Antoinette's smile grew wider.

Dan groaned and let his head fall. "You guys are  _insufferable._ "

"Huh, you know someone else said that  _exact same thing_  to us just a few nights ago," Will said, giving me a look. I rolled my eyes.

"We're twins, remember?" I defended me and my brother.

Dan lifted his head again. "Just…take care of her, okay? Don't get into any trouble." Normally, that would've been said jokingly, with a gleam in the eye, but with us it was serious. Trouble meant monsters, and monster meant injury or death.

"Of course." Will nodded. His eyes flickered to me momentarily. "I think you and Victoria have a lot to talk about."

Antoinette suddenly let out a small gasp, her eyes going to me, her smile dropping. "Oh, that's right." Before I could comprehend what was happening, she'd pulled me into a tight hug. "I heard about your friend," she said softly in my ear, her arms tightening around me. I was so stunned I didn't hug her back. "I just wanted to offer my condolences."

It took me a moment to realize she was talking about TJ. I inhaled sharply, my breath coming out shakily. I was suddenly very aware of the ache in my chest and the prickles all over my body.

"Oh, thank you," I managed, robotically moving my hands up to pat her back. Mercifully, she pulled away, but put her hands on my shoulders, giving them a squeeze. She released and turned to Dan, a delicate smile on her lips.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked.

Dan nodded, a smile spreading across his face. "Yeah. I'll text you later tonight." He took a step forward then, leaning forward for a quick kiss. I felt tears pool in my eyes and had to look away.

When they pulled back, Dan said something quietly, in a language I didn't understand.

Antoinette's smile grew and she repeated what my brother had just said, just as soft before turning to face my siblings. With my siblings crowding around her, they all exited the building. I watched them go with a sad smile, wishing with everything I had that Luke was still alive.

Once they had excited the building, I turned toward Dan.

"You're learning Malay?" I asked, surprised at how steady my voice sounded.

Dan kept his eyes on the doors. "I really love her."

I couldn't help the smile that pulled at my lips. "I can tell." I paused, jumping to a different subject. Kind of. "You told her?"

Dan shrugged, looking at me. "We don't really have secrets anymore," he mumbled. "Well, all but one."

"Are you going to tell her you're a demigod?" I asked. "That's quite a secret to keep. And with you two growing closer now…"

"I will." He looked back at the doors our siblings and his girlfriend had just gone through. I followed his gaze. "But, right now, that's not what I want to talk to you about."

I looked back at my brother and opened my mouth to say…something. Problem was, nothing came out. I felt the pain rush through me, almost as clear and agonizing as the moment TJ had been stabbed by that scorpion's stinger. My eyes flooded with tears and a sob escaped my lips. Dan opened his arms and I walked into his embrace.

Of course, he knew about TJ already, but seeing him and having the opportunity to talk to him more in depth and longer in person was overwhelming. There was something about face-to-face contact that made things that much more intimate.

One of the many things I appreciated was that he didn't try and comfort me with empty words and false assurances, he merely hugged me if I needed it. And he always ran warmer than me, so it was comforting to be engulfed by his warmth. It did wonders with my chronic pain, too.

When I finally calmed down enough to be able to control my tears and sobs, we headed back to his apartment. He shared it with five other guys so they didn't have to pay as much. Two of them were close friends of his, the other three were friends of Dan's friends.

We went into Dan's bedroom as quietly as possible. It looked just as I'd last seen it. We sat down on the edge of his bed and I told him everything that'd happened since I'd IMed him that night Gaea had spoken to me—about Gaea, the siren business, and how that had to do with TJ's death.

He wasn't pleased, to say the least, that I'd been keeping so much from him. Also that I'd lied to him about my dream that night. I tried not to default to the, "I didn't want to worry you" because I knew he hated hearing that (even though that was exactly why). Instead, I apologized and promised I'd  _try_  to do better. I wasn't sure how well that was going to work out because I hadn't done great thus far, but my building guilt at keeping him out of the loop was certainly a good motivator.

"So in summary: Gaea," Dan said.

I nodded, frowning at his simplification, but also its accuracy. "Yeah, pretty much," I muttered.

"Have you talked to Chiron about going on the ship?" he asked.

I shook my head. "The prophecy specifically says, 'seven half-bloods,'" I told him. "The three newbies—and most likely Annabeth, since Percy was the one exchanged—are the first four. Percy's definitely the fifth. And then I'm assuming two other Roman demigods will join them, making up the sixth and seventh. Once Leo's done making the ship, they're going to sail straight to California to pick up the final three. No room for me."

"Do you think you'll have a role to play?"

I looked over at Dan carefully. "I'm not sure I follow."

"Obviously Gaea thinks you're powerful, if she's trying so hard to recruit you," he explained.

I shrugged, looking at him helplessly. "I don't know. I can't tell if she's trying to recruit other half-bloods like Kronos did…or if it's just me." Dan frowned like he was displeased with my answer, and I wondered what that was all about. "Is something wrong? Are you…not telling me something?"

Now that I'd gotten so much off my chest, cried more, I felt I had more clarity of mind. Looking at Dan now, I realized he looked exhausted. His stage make-up may have had something to do with helping him hide it, but his eyes were sunken in, underneath dark circles. Beneath his fluorescent bedroom light, his skin looked sickly and pale, with shadows thrown across his face, aging him and making him look that much more tired. I guess I'd been so caught up in grief over TJ, I hadn't noticed when I'd IMed daily. (I mean, we also only saw each other for a few minutes to a few seconds, so that may have been a contributing factor.)

Dan quickly averted his gaze. "It's…it's nothing."

I shifted to face him more, leaning toward him, trying to make him meet my eyes. "Don't do this. Not now. What's wrong?" My heart had shot into my throat and started pounding at three times the speed. Did Gaea have something to do with this? Was she slowly killing him somehow? I couldn't lose him. I just… _couldn't_.

Swallowing hard, I put a hand on his arm. "Please, Dan…" My voice shook and I felt the burn of tears in my eyes. Dan finally looked back up at me.

"Look, it's probably nothing—" he tried.

I pulled my hand away. "When is it ever nothing?" I snapped. "It's  _never_  nothing. Not with  _us_ , with who we are."

Dan closed his eyes, letting out a breath. It looked like he was about to say "we", but suddenly switched and said, "I've been having dreams, lately."

"About what?"

My brother shook his head and opened his eyes. "They're so vague, I'm not really sure." His eyes tightened and swirled with pain, his voice becoming hoarse. "All I know is that they're about you. And they worry me."

"When did this start?" I asked quietly.

"After you IMed me. The night you…made contact with Gaea."

"Just a moment ago, you were about to say 'we,'" I started.

"Victoria, please—"

"Does that mean our siblings are  _also_  having this dream?" I asked, ignoring him.

Dan moistened his lips and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "We were going to tell you—"

" _When?_ " I asked, standing up, glaring down at my brother.

"You already had enough on your plate," Dan said loudly, standing up and gripping my arms. "We didn't want you to worry more about anything. We were going to tell you tonight, all together, but then TJ…" he trailed off and swallowed hard. "We thought it would be best if we saved it for later."

I shoved his hands off my arms and crossed them, glaring off to the side. I wanted to be angrier, to tell him how betrayed I felt, but I knew that wasn't fair. I did the exact same thing to him all the time. Instead, I counted to ten and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down.

"Will you keep my updated from now on, then? If anything develops?" I finally asked, looking back at my brother. He nodded, relaxing. I let my arms fall. "You should really get some sleep now. And the rest of us should get back to camp. I hope they're done hanging out with your girlfriend."

I started to leave, but Dan grabbed my wrist. "Victoria, wait." I froze, my head snapping in his direction. Dan quickly let go and shifted on his feet.

"Look, I…I don't know if-if, well—" Dan broke off with a frustrated sigh before grabbing his backpack and digging in the smallest pocket in the front before he pulled out a business card. He stared down at it, as if rereading what was on the card before looking up at me and holding it out to me.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I took it. The card was a tannish color, split in half by a line. On the top, in black ink, a person's name, Rowan Torrez. Underneath the line was CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST. Underneath that, a name in Greek: Ἰασώ, which my mind automatically translated to Iaso. Finally, at the bottom was a phone number. I flipped it over just to see if there was something on the other side. Mostly blank, except for in the top left corner, a small insignia in, what looked to be, golden ink of a staff with a single snake wrapped around it. If memory served, that was the symbol of Asclepius, god of medicine.

I finally looked up at Dan, who was watching me carefully.

"A therapist?" I asked.

Dan nodded. "I've been seeing them since…well since that dream, where I was dying."

"Them?"

"They prefer gender neutral pronouns," he explained. "They're a child of Iaso, who's the goddess of cures, remedies, and modes of healing, hence—therapist."

"And Iaso's the daughter of Asclepius," I guessed. Dan nodded, nervously fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" I asked, my voice soft.

The edge of Dan's lips pulled up in a smile, it was almost sarcastic. "I didn't want you to worry."

I stuck my tongue out at him, causing him to laugh. I looked back at the card. "Do they help?"

"Going has really been helping me," Dan answered. "I think you should at least try, go once, see how it feels, if you like it."

"I don't…have any way to pay them," I said.

"I'll work it out with them," he said, waving his hand.

I frowned, my eyebrows furrowing. "I can't ask you—"

He came up to me, gripping my hands. "Please, let me do this one thing for you," he said fervently. "I'm tired of feeling like I'm not able to help you with anything because I'm always away." His grip on my hands tightened. "I want to feel like I'm helping you in any way I can."

I looked at my brother, feeling a little at a loss. I didn't want to put such a financial burden on him. I knew therapists weren't cheap and if he was also seeing Rowan that would only double his cost. At the same time, I didn't want to just deny this for him because he seemed almost desperate, though that could be due, in part, to his lack of sleep. Then something occurred to me.

I shook my head. "Even so…it still wouldn't be safe for Rowan to be around me. Monsters might—"

"Look, I've already spoken to Rowen about this and they told me they wouldn't mind going to camp if you're worried about their safety."

"Dan—"

"Just once," he interrupted. "Just the once to see if it helps. You can't keep bottling it up. I know you're slowly coping, and I know that Will and Nico have been helping, but they're not trained in this field. I really think someone who's been trained will be able to help you tremendously. Especially with this most recent death. You've barely recovered from Luke."

I pulled my hands from his, tears filling my eyes. My heart stuttered and the hole expanded.

"You don't know that!" I growled, glowering at my brother.

Dan's eyes softened. "You're my twin sister," he said gently. "I can tell."

I scoffed. "Don't tell me—you think we have some kind psychic twin link?"

"I know you're upset, but attacking me isn't going to get us anywhere."

I scowled, reaching up to wipe away some escaped tears before crossing my arms. I was still holding the card and I glanced down at it again.

"I think about it," I muttered. I sighed and looked over at Dan. "Try and get some sleep now, okay?" I told him in a softer tone.

Dan smiled wanely. "I'll walk you out."

Saying goodbye to my brother was always hard. I hugged him hard for a good few minutes, afraid if I let go he might disappear. Once we'd finally parted, I IMed my siblings to see where they were. They'd already returned to the van, having dropped Antoinette off at her place of residence. I walked back to where we'd parked and hopped into the driver's seat. The rest of my siblings were ready and waiting.

"Oh, you've got your seatbelts all buckled and ready," I commented as I started the van.

"You're so funny I forgot to laugh," Cressida remarked. I gave her a look through the rearview mirror before pulling out and starting back toward camp. Half-way there, my siblings fell asleep. Well, most of them. Will was struggling to stay awake in the passenger's seat.

"How was your talk with Dan?" he slurred.

I gripped the steering wheel and stared at the dark, farm road. "Why didn't you guys tell me you were having dreams?"

Will sighed. "We didn't want to worry you. There isn't much to go off of right now, so there's no point in lying awake thinking about it, is there?"

I was quiet, letting him have that one. "Dan suggested I start seeing a therapist," I said after a few moments of silence. I looked over at Will briefly when he didn't respond. He was avoiding my gaze. I turned back to the road. "But you knew that already, didn't you?"

"We had…discussed it," Will finally said.

"You  _really_  think it'll help?" I asked.

"Rowan's a demigod, too. You can be as open and honest about everything, you don't have to hide or lie. That's the point of the therapist, right?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"Yes, I do think Rowan could help."

I bit my lip, glancing through the side mirror for something to do. I actually wasn't thrilled with the concept of seeing a therapist. I could barely trust anyone right now, with Gaea rising again, the end of the world looming. How was I supposed to open up to a complete stranger, reveal all my secrets, my heart and soul? Just thinking about it made me feel out of control, helpless. I had to forcibly switch my train of thought before I had a full-blown panic attack.

I glanced at Will again, opening my mouth to ask him a question, but his eyes were closed, head lolled to one side, and he snored softly. I closed my mouth, turning back to the road. At least we were almost home. I was tired, too, and my chronic pain was starting to act up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So…doesn't feel like my best, and I actually wanted to get more in this, but didn't feel it fit the flow. Siblings-bonding is a nice read, though, wouldn't you say?
> 
> It's a bit shorter than my previous ones, but I have a feeling next chapter _might_ be longer… ;)
> 
> Title taken from "All Together Now" by the Beatles.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	26. Just as Sweet

"Hi, again," Nick greeted with a nod and a grin as he slid onto the bench next to me. "Fancy seeing you here." I was at the end of the table again, it was dinner and I had been contemplating whether or not I should leave early, because I was _not_ feeling it. It was like he could just…tell and somehow managed to time it perfectly so that he appeared right before I decided to leave.

I shoved his shoulder playfully, glancing at Chiron. This time, he wasn't engaged in conversation. He looked at us over the rim of his cup with an eyebrow raised. I looked back at Nick.

"You can't keep doing this," I told him a low voice. "You're going to get us in trouble."

"I wanted to show you another trick," Nick explained. "It'll be a quick one, like last time."

Around us, people were murmuring again. I could feel the stares of my siblings' eyes on my back. I forced myself to keep my gaze on Nick and not look around, afraid of what I'd see.

"Make it quick," I whispered.

Smiling, Nick pulled out a deck of cards. "All right, I'm going to rifle down the side of the deck, like this," he said, holding out the deck in his left hand and using the thumb of his right to press down on a corner of the deck, rifling through the cards. "And I want you to tell me when to stop, okay?" He rifled again and I told him to stop near where I thought was the middle.

"Right there? Awesome." Nick said. "Now, let's just take that card"—he turned the card sideways so it stuck out of the deck and then removed it from the deck—"the three of hearts." He brandished the card to me before flipping it over, face-down on the top of the deck. "We're gonna take that card, now, and put it back into the center of the deck." Nick took the card, then and slid it into the middle of the deck, fanning it out slightly to show me that it was really there, before bringing the cards together and pushing the card in.

"Now, I'm going to shuffle the cards, losing your card in in the mix," he said, doing the fancy shuffle with the bridge. "And I'll even do a cut." I watched, amazed, as he easily and fluidly split the deck into three, nearly equal parts and mixed them up, setting one pile on top of another, making a complete deck again. "So, you can see that your card is not on top"—he lifted the top card and turned it over to show me five of clubs—"or on the bottom." Nick flipped the deck over to show me the bottom, an ace of spades. "It's somewhere in the center.

"Now, I'm going to take this five of clubs," Nick started. I glanced up to see him smiling. An answering smile pulled at my lips as I looked back down at the cards in his hands. "Watch what happens when we take this off…" Nick lifted the card off the deck, holding opposite edges between both of his hand's thumbs and middle fingers. "Give it a quick flick"—with his left hand's thumb and middle finger he pulled down on the two edges, and suddenly I was staring at the three of hearts—"we get your three of hearts."

Nick set the card back down on top of the deck before picking it up again and brandishing it to me. I quickly snatched it from his hands and examined it closely. I wasn't sure what I was going to find. Nick was a good magician.

With a groan I threw the card back at him. Nick grinned and snickered.

"This is so frustrating," I complained.

Nick put the card, face-down on the deck, before slipping the deck into his pocket. "But you enjoyed it."

"I did," I finally admitted in small voice, a smile pulling at the edge of my lips.

Chiron cleared his throat, then.

I turned back to Nick in time to see him smile and wink before he was off, back to his table. Still smiling, I swiveled so I was facing the table again. I made the mistake of glancing up at my siblings, though. They were all smiling suggestively. At least they hadn't burst out laughing like last time. Still, I found myself blushing again.

"Will you stop doing that," I hissed, leaning toward them, frowning. They all snickered. "How old you guys, again?"

"Younger than you, as you so graciously keep reminding us," Will retorted. "We can't help it, we're teenagers with roaring hormones."

"I may not be a child of Aphrodite, but I'm certainly sensing love in the air," Cressida sang.

I clicked my tongue and pulled back slightly, making a face. "Nick's just a friend who's trying to cheer me up."

"Okay." Reed said, nodding. It was clear they didn't believe me, though.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

When it was time for the campfire, I headed back to the cabin. After Dan's performance, I felt that I could maybe, possibly start singing. So I had Will spread the word that I was taking requests again. Since I hadn't gotten any tonight, I decided to skip the campfire. As I was heading to the Apollo cabin, Leo approached me and asked if I wanted to hang out with him. I told him yes before quickly running into my cabin to take some pain meds and then following him back into the forest.

These two things would become routine. Nick was really pushing his luck, visiting my table nearly every night, but I was really enjoying his magic tricks. And hanging out with Leo was a lot of fun. It was mostly idle banter, and throwing jokes and sarcastic remarks back and forth while we walked, but it was still light-hearted and fun. Something I desperately needed. (I hadn't reached a Level 10 Friend, yet.) Then I sat in the ship and watched him work, listening to him talk about what he was going.

* * *

I decided that I'd try out the therapist, for Dan's sake, for my siblings' sake. It was only fair to them for how much grief I put them through. So a few days after we'd gone to see Dan's performance, I asked Chiron if I could use the phone in the Big House and called Rowan, scheduling one of the days I actually had an hour of free time. Thankfully, Rowan had an open slot during that period.

Needless to say, I was anxious. Opening up was hard enough as it was, but the fact that I was expected to open up to a complete stranger was horrifying.

I paced near Thalia's pine tree on the crest of the hill as I waited. Peleus was picking up my agitation and shifting around the tree, grumbling, snorting, and giving me side-eyes.

I sighed. "I'm sorry buddy, I'm just nervous."

He blew smoke from his nose and rumbled, before shifting again and resting his head down on the ground and throwing his tail over his snout.

I continued my pacing until a car pulled up and slowly drove down the driveway. I quickly ran down the hill to go greet Rowan. I waited patiently, shifting on my feet, as they stepped out of their car.

Rowan had very dark skin, brown eyes, and short, curly brown hair. They wore a white button down with a forest green cardigan sweater overtop and jeans. Their shoes were black converse high-top. They also had a briefcase slung over their shoulder.

When Rowan had closed the car door and locked it, I went up to greet them.

"Hi, I'm Victoria." I held out my hand, cursing silently when I realized it was shaking. It was too late to take it back now.

Rowan smiled genially and took my hand, giving it a firm shake. "It's nice to meet you, Victoria." Their voice was smooth and soothing.

I tried for a smile of my own as I pulled my hand away.

"So, where would you like to talk?" they asked.

"It's just through here," I said, gesturing to the Big House before turning and leading them in. I tried not to let my fear show as I briskly made my way through the front room, to the staircase. Chiron had set aside a room on the second floor for me and Rowan. It was a cozy room with a carpet covering the wood floor, a few comfy chairs, and two large windows, letting natural light shine in and light up the room. Against one was a small bookshelf, brimming with books. A few pieces of artwork hung on the walls. I'd set up the chairs the previous day so two were a few feet apart, facing each other, and pushed the rest against the back wall.

"Um, I hope this setup is okay. I wasn't really sure what you'd want," I explained as we entered. I took a few steps in and turned to see Rowan's reaction.

They stopped in the threshold and looked around. Eventually a smile spread across their lips, their brown eyes twinkling.

"It's very homely," they commented. "The set up looks fine. As long as you're comfortable with it, too."

I nodded silently before tentatively taking a seat on the edge of one of the chairs. Rowan closed the door and sat down in the opposite chair, taking a pad of paper and a pen from their briefcase. They also took out a case that held glasses and put them on before settling into the chair and setting the pad in their lap.

"So, what would you like to talk about?" they asked, looking up at me.

I shrugged, fiddling with my fingers. My heart was pounding so hard, my chest hurt. "I-I don't know. I'm not sure how this works, really. Has-has Dan told you anything about…about my situation, what I've been through?"

Rowan shook their head. "No. I asked him to keep it at a minimum. I want you to open up to me on your own terms."

For some reason that shocked me. The only portrayal of therapists I'd seen was on TV and in plays and such. So I had a skewed version of what a therapist was in my head. And, in some ways, Rowan fit the stereotype, but they were also proving that what the media showed was _way off_.

I found myself relaxing slightly. My heartrate slowed and blood wasn't rushing through my ears anymore. Though, my hands were still shaking.

I chewed my lip, trying to think about where to start. My mom? I had mostly gotten over her death. It was the anger that I held for Apollo that was my problem. I glanced at Rowan. Was I ready to talk to them about that, though? I wasn't sure. So maybe not that, yet.

Then perhaps…something my brother mentioned—Luke or TJ. Both those names hit my like a ton of bricks and I froze in my fidgeting and fiddling. Swallowing hard, I forced a breath through my nose. Daedalus' words suddenly rang through my head: _Tel them the truth. Tell them…the whole story, from start to finish._ Of course, "them" had been the camp at the time, not Rowan, but it applied in this context quite well. I remembered that talk crystal clear, as if it'd happened just yesterday. I'd just stolen Ariadne's ball of thread from Kronos' army and was taking it back to camp through the Labyrinth when I ran into Daedalus because he'd been heading back to camp, too. Earlier, he'd talked to me about why I was still with Luke, when he was Luke and not Kronos, and Daedalus told me the camp deserved to know why I stayed by Luke's side despite what he was doing.

While we were traveling through the magical maze, he'd brought it up again, because Luke had taken on Kronos and I had decided I wouldn't be able to stay with him after that. It was then he'd told me what I should tell them. (I would end up telling mostly the whole story, omitting some things for Silena's sake.)

I finally looked back at Rowan. They were watching me with a keen gaze, but very patient. The light filtering through the window made their eyes lighter, making them the most beautiful brown I'd ever seen.

Taking a deep breath, I began my story again, from the moment that hellhound had broken into my mom's apartment to just after TJ died. It came surprisingly easy. Of course, I was mainly recounting what'd happened, not exactly what I'd felt during specific moments. Though, as I talked, Rowan would scribble down notes. They were writing nearly everything down, but I noticed when I was telling them about a particularly emotional thing I'd gone through, they'd start writing like mad, circling and underlining things.

I tried not to focus too much on what Rowan was doing, though, because it only made me stumble over my words and lose the momentum I'd gathered. I could feel myself wanting to curl up and hide under a rock. Then I'd meet Rowan's eyes again and calm down enough I could continue my story. I wasn't sure if they were using some kind of power granted by their godly parent, or if they just had that kind of aura. (I really hoped it was the latter, because I hated it when people used their godly powers to manipulate me.)

Since it was quite a tale, I managed to finish just as our hour was up. Rowan had already flipped several pages worth of notes. At least I'd given them a ton of material that we could work through. Going by that though, I guess I'd been pulled into seeing a therapist, too. I'd have to thank Dan, however begrudging I felt at the moment.

"Same time next week?" Rowan asked, putting the pad and pen back in their briefcase before zipping it up and slinging it over their shoulder.

I nodded hesitantly. Rowan smiled and nodded before turning toward the door.

"Look," I blurted, stopping them. They looked back at me. "If Dan can't make my payment, I'll find another way to pay you for your time. I really don't want to put more strain on him than he already has. I know he's already busy enough as it is and that he's also seeing you, so, seriously if he misses a payment or can't do it anymore, tell me—he certainly won't—and I will find a way." My chest was slightly heaving because I'd said that all in one breath.

Rowan gave me a reassuring smile, turning to face me fully. "I can guarantee you that Dan has already worked out both payment methods with me. It's all right."

I bit my lip. "Are you sure?"

Rowan nodded. "I'll see you next week, Victoria."

"Okay," I replied in a small voice as Rowan opened up the door. "Bye." I waved weakly as they headed down the hall. I waited for the count of thirty before exiting the room myself, closing the door behind me and heading downstairs and outside. Rowan's car had just pulled out of the drive and was turning around to head back to the city.

I took a deep breath, letting it out in a big sigh as I watched their car disappear. (I'd need to take some ibuprofen when I got back to my cabin, I was really starting to feel those prickles.) Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all, but we'd see how long that lasted once we started digging and picking at things.

* * *

Jason was becoming more and more insufferable. I was annoyed he thought he needed to be in my classes just to keep an eye on me. It was obvious that he wasn't putting much effort into archery and then his fighting style was so completely and wholly _Roman_ it was hard to teach him anything. When I set people to spar with him just for practice, he usually ended beating them up because they weren't used to his head-on approach. It never seemed like enough of a challenge for him.

One day, just after I'd set everyone up in my archery class, Will had come over to me, looking uncomfortable.

"Could I, um…talk to you for a minute?" he mumbled, his gaze on the ground, shoulders hunched. I was instantly on alert and worried. He didn't look hurt and I couldn't sense any injuries on him.

I rested my hand on his upper forearm and said, "Yes, of course." I led him away from the rest of the campers, out of earshot. I scanned the line, not missing Jason's eyes flickering over to us momentarily before going back to his target.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to get Will to look at me, but he kept his eyes firmly on the ground, no matter where I shifted or turned my head. After a long moment of tense silence, Will glanced over his shoulder in the direction of Jason. I frowned, disliking Jason even more now, even though I didn't know what he'd done yet.

"Will, you can talk to me about anything, you know that?" I prompted, squeezing his arm gently.

"Do you think I should just…quit trying to learn archery?" he finally asked in such a defeated voice, my heart ached.

"What? Why?" My gaze went back to Jason momentarily, wondering what he might've done. I looked back at Will who was still looking down. "You've made so much improvement. Don't stop now. I know it's hard—"

Will jerked away out of my grasp, his head snapping up to glare at me, hands balling into fists at his sides. "No, you don't! You're so good at _everything_! Archery, swordplay, fighting with a dagger, hand-to-hand combat!" He gestured to my right wrist. "You've got that magic thing and more control over the Mist."

I stared at my half-brother bewildered. "Will…" I started in a small voice, taking a small step toward him.

"I can't even shoot a stupid target," he spat, in a lower voice. That's when I noticed the tears in his eyes. "Let alone swing a sword properly or wield a dagger without hurting someone."

"What…what brought this on?" I took another small step toward him again.

He gestured wildly in the direction of Jason. "If archery is pointless unless you're a child of Apollo then what does that make me, huh?"

I wet my lips, my mind flying in two different directions. Part of me was angry, wanted to go over to Jason and throttle him. The other part was worried about Will and wanted to stay and comfort him. The latter won out, because I knew that I would get nowhere if I let my anger get the best of me.

"Archery isn't everything," I told him. He scoffed. " _Really_ , it isn't." I paused, swallowing hard, swallowing my growing anger toward a certain son of Jupiter. "You are the _best_ damn healer in the cavalry. That makes you invaluable. I am…violent, stubborn, and easily provoke. I'm a solider, a fighter. You're a combat medic, a healer. I…kill monsters. So what. Big deal. But you? You _save lives_."

"You save lives, too," Will muttered, looking down, but glance at me through the corners of his.

I snorted. "I'd like to see you debate that with the Hephaestus cabin." That got a small smile, which I was relieved to see. I let it sink in for a moment before being serious again. "You're right, I…don't understand. But you _are_ improving. It'll just…take a little more time. But, please, don't sell yourself short, because you are _so_ important to this camp. To demigods. You're way with people and healing is something that no one can compete with. And I mean that sincerely. Ask any of our siblings, they'd agree."

Will let out a big breath and scrubbed his eyes, sniffling. "Thanks." He looked up at me and smiled.

I smiled back. "Of course."

"Um, do you think I could…maybe just take today off. I'm not…" He trailed off, rubbing his arm with his hand and shuffling his feet.

"Sure," I nodded. "Go back to the cabin, take it easy."

"Thanks." Will turned and started to head away from the archery range. In a moment of impulsivity, I stepped forward and pulled him into a tight hug, feeling a fierce protectiveness of him rush over me. He _was_ my younger brother after all. After a moment, Will's arms came around me.

Without a word, we pulled away and looked at each other for a second before Will headed off. I took a deep breath, gathering my roaring emotions, and turned back to the class to see how they were getting along. I hoped I hadn't taken too long, but I was glad that I'd had that talk with Will. I hoped if he was having any more doubts, he'd come to me again.

I tried not to be colder than I already was toward Jason when checking in on him, but I don't know how well I managed it. Part of it was because the stress and anger had made my chronic pain flare up.

And, yeah, maybe Jason hadn't intended to attack my brother like that, but I was fed up with his attitude. It was really starting to grate on my nerves. I know he had joined my classes so he could "keep an eye on me," but honestly if he heated archery so much, why even bother? Wouldn't one class be enough for him? There came a point where it wasn't worth it anymore, surely?

Once class was dismissed, I noticed Jason hanging back, though I hadn't asked him to stay after class. I'd given up at this point, trying to motivate him to try harder. It was obvious he didn't like me so there was a slim chance he'd listen to me if I tried to help him improve. Teaching was a two-way street. He had to _want_ to learn or he wasn't going to get anywhere.

I waited impatiently near the hay bale for him to return his things to the pile so I could gather it up and return it to the armory. I'd taken some pain meds, but they hadn't kicked in yet, so that wasn't helping me mood _at all_. Was it just me or was he taking so agonizingly long on purpose?

"Do you usually let your… _students_ off for the day?" Jason asked as he walked over to the bale. "Or do you just _favor_ your siblings?" he finished setting his bow and quiver of arrows onto the pile. I didn't answer I was so busy counting to ten in my head. Jason turned to face me when I remained silent. "He looked pretty upset. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he _is_ a child of Apollo, right? Yet…he's in the elementary archery class—"

I started toward the son of Jupiter, causing him to break off, going toe-to-toe with him. He straightened up and met my challenge evenly. His blue eyes flashed and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck and arms stand on end, but I didn't move.

"Now, look here, _Grace_ ," I spat. "If you have a problem with me, then you will keep it _with me._ If you go after _any_ of my siblings, in _any way, shape, or form_ you— _will_ —regret it. Are we clear?"

The edge of his lips on one side of his face twitched up in contempt, but other than that his face remained steely calm. "Crystal."

I glared at him a moment longer before growling, "Leave." Jason quickly slipped from between me and the bale, walking quickly away from the archery range. I watched him go with a hard gaze and didn't relax until he'd disappeared from my sight.

* * *

Nico started showing up more. For a while, after TJ's death, it was almost every other day. And I'd take time, even if it was just a few minutes, to chat with him. He liked to show up during my elementary swordsmanship class. He wouldn't ever admit to it, but I think it was because he liked the kids. They were always so enthusiastic and happy to talk to him, ask him questions, and hang out with him. Sometimes, I'd let him teach them a trick or two while I taught the older students.

As the weeks passed, he started showing up once a week, but it was consistent, which was nice. And he seemed to always enjoy himself during his visits.

Speaking of friendships, Nick and I were starting to grow closer. The more magic he showed me, the more I found I enjoyed his company, always looking forward to seeing that next trick, what he had in store for me. I also stopped avoiding him after my classes and talked with him a bit—about how classes were going, how his family was doing, etc.

His nerves had seemed to make a sudden, violent resurgence, though. When he wasn't performing a magic trick for me, he was blushing, stuttering, and tripping, sometimes over his words, sometimes over his own feet. I had to wonder what that was about. I thought for sure he'd have gotten over his puppy-love crush by now.

I also decided to keep seeing Rowan. The first session we had didn't really tell me much about whether or not they could actually help me. If I wasn't seeing results when I thought I should, then I'd probably drop the sessions. I'm glad that Dan had convinced me and that I decided to stay with the sessions, though.

As the weeks passed and I started forming or strengthening my relationships with people other my siblings—like with Nico, Nick, and Leo, I was even talking with Annabeth more when we trained with daggers, just as friend—Rowan and I started to slowly, painstakingly work through all my shit. It was all thanks to Rowan that I was even forming these relationships.

It had been hard to find a place to start when I met with Rowan that second time, since everything kind of wove into everything else. The reason I was here now was because of the decisions I'd made when I was fourteen. And since that was the case, we started at the beginning. Opening up about my scars, my hatred for my father, and my grief over the loss of my mom was…hard. To say the least.

I was angry at Rowan for a good portion of the time we worked through those issues. There was a lot of tears and screaming, if I'm being honest. But Rowan was patient, level-headed, and calm the whole time, which I appreciated. Later. Yet, I kept scheduling sessions with Rowen, even if I was angry at them, because, at the very least, I did feel better about talking to someone about it. Someone who was a stranger to me and this camp, who held no previous judgement. (The irony is not lost on me.)

The stress of these sessions didn't help my chronic pain, but I found if I took a few pain meds before, I was okay.

Eventually…we started working on my guilt involving the deaths that had been haunting me for a couple of years now. Thankfully, the first deaths we talked about were during the Battle of the Labyrinth and not Luke's or TJ's. Those were easier to talk about, but they took longer to work through than I thought they would—three or four sessions at the least. I didn't realize how much guilt I'd been carrying until I had told Rowan and felt an increment of weight lift from my chest. The more Rowan helped me, the lighter my chest felt.

I would've said it was some kind of magic of Iaso's children, but that wasn't true. I'd have felt it. It was more like Rowan helped me change my perspective of their deaths, helped me see that I wasn't guilty of anything. At the same time, they also understood and accepted that some part of me—that grew smaller and smaller with ever session—would always feel guilty about their deaths. Now, I just didn't feel _as_ guilty as I had before.

Beckendorf, Michael, and Silena's deaths were much harder to work through. In fact, we were still working through them, taking them one death at a time, to make things easier on me.

* * *

It'd been several weeks since I started seeing Rowan, and we were well into March, the end of the second week in fact. Nico was still visiting every week. Leo's ship was coming along quite well—it was still in Bunker 9, but he almost had the lowest deck finished. He'd said they'd be moving the ship out onto the water once he finished the deck with the dining hall and living quarters to finally add the top deck, weapons, and finishing touches. Nick was still showing me tricks and acting strange when he wasn't.

I was currently in the bathroom, holding a glass of water, having just taken some pain meds. Leaning against the counter, holding the glass close to me, I looked around the room to occupy my eyes. The vase of dried out roses caught my eye and I couldn't help but smile. They'd been a gift from Nick. Someone had requested me to sing at the campfire the night he'd given them to me. When I'd finished and it was time to go back to our cabins, I noticed Nick waiting at the bottom of the stairs that led to the stage and let my siblings go before me, getting the feeling he was waiting for me.

"Hey," I greeted, a smile stretching across my lips as I stepped down to Nick's level.

"That was…that was, t-truly beautiful," Nick stuttered, blushing, but with his own smile. It looked a little goofy and star-struck, though.

"Thank you," I said, ignoring his nervousness and starting toward the cabins.

Nick stumbled catching up to me. "Um, so…I-I wanted to, uh, well, give you something. If-if you'll let me."

I slowed to a stop and looked at him with an eyebrow raised, crossing my arms. "Okay."

Nick swallowed hard, wringing his hands before turning to face me fully. He lowered his head, took a deep breath before lifting it again while also lifting his arms. He reached into one of the sleeves of his coat, made a face, then tried the other one. Smiling, he removed his hand and out sprung a small, fake bouquet of brightly colored flowers. Despite having seen that trick before, a smile spread across my lips as he handed me the bouquet.

"That's very sweet—" I started, but Nick held up a finger before reaching into his other sleeve and producing a rose.

"'What's in a name?'" he quoted, in a slightly shaky voice, bringing the rose up to smell. I felt a painful flutter in my chest, remembering Aphrodite's words in regards to Luke and I's relationship—like _Romeo and Juliet._

Nick continued, completely unaware. "'that which we call a rose—'"

"'By any other name would smell as sweet,'" I found myself finishing, taking a shaky breath. Nick's eyes softened as he brought the rose forward and pushed it into the middle of the bouquet in my hands. Right before my eyes, with a ripple of sparkling blue-white light spreading from the rose, the entire bouquet transformed into a full, vibrant bouquet of _real_ , deep, red roses.

I gasped, reaching up to stroke one of the petals, and then burying my nose in them, loving the smell. Finally, I looked back at Nick, who was waiting nervously, shifting on his feet, moistening his lips, wringing his hands.

"I thought you swore on the Styx you wouldn't use real magic," I said with a rueful smile.

Nick grinned. "I said I wouldn't use it _during_ my tricks, never after."

I rolled my eyes, snorting, looking back at the roses in my hands. "These are beautiful. Thank you." I met his eyes again and saw him stiffen. His eyes widened, his face turning red. I stifled a sigh and tried not to shake my head in exasperation. "Have a good night, Nick."

I started toward my cabin. After a few steps I hear him call back, "Goodnight!" in a strangled voice. I looked over my shoulder and smiled at him so he'd know I'd heard him. I was so caught up admiring the roses that I forgot I had younger, immature siblings.

"Oooo, _somebody's_ popular," Reed exclaimed when I'd stepped in and closed the door. I sighed and looked at him.

"Let me guess," Cressida said. "Those are from Nick?" Her tone was suggestive.

I shifted my gaze to her. "It was a friendly gesture, that's all."

Lyra and Kyla giggled, leaning on each for support.

"You keep telling yourself that," Lyra managed before bursting into another fit of giggles.

"You _do_ know what red roses mean in flower language, right?" Austin asked, his eyes shining.

I felt an embarrassed blush creep into my face. "Grow _up_ ," I mumbled, trying to hide my face behind my bouquet, before quickly making my way into the bathroom, slamming the door in my siblings' faces for they'd tried to follow me.

Instead of putting them into water, I let the roses dry out so that I'd be able to keep them for as long as I wanted. I rarely got flowers from someone, so these were special to me.

Blinking, I realized I'd probably been standing in the bathroom for too long. This was one of my very few truly free times, but I wasn't going to spend it standing in the bathroom, staring at dried roses. Rolling my eyes but smiling at the memory, I downed the rest of the water in my cup before rinsing it out in the sink. As I set it aside on the counter, I glanced up at the covered mirror in front of me and paused.

Since Rowan and I had talked about my guilt over those deaths, they also knew that I couldn't face myself in the mirror. Originally it was because when I looked in a mirror I didn't recognize myself and I couldn't stand to face that stranger in the mirror who looked exactly like me. Then, after the deaths started accumulating, it was because I saw the faces of the dead, of those I thought I'd killed.

After having worked through the first four deaths, and now that we were working through Beckendorf, Michael, and Silena's deaths, Rowan gently encouraged me to try looking into a mirror again during every session. I'd thought about it a lot, despite vocally telling them I didn't want to.

Glancing behind me at the closed door of the bathroom and chewing my lip, I leaned against the counter, turning back to face the covered mirror. I could feel my erratic heartbeat having just thought about taking a peek. It'd been so long since I'd looked in a mirror. If I'm being completely honest, I was curious. I wanted to know what I looked like now, after so long with so much having happened. Would I recognize myself? Would I look older than I actually was? Tired? Like life had beaten me down?

With a trembling hand, I reached for the little knob on the door, pausing a few centimeters away. Sucking in a deep breath, steeling my nerves, and holding that breath in, I forced my hand forward, swiftly pulling the cabinet door open, like ripping off a band aid.

I squeezed my eyes shut, though as soon as I'd opened it. So, still holding my breath, I opened one eye, squinting. All I saw was a blurry figure, through my lashes. Gritting my teeth, my whole body tense, my heart beating out of my chest, I opened both eyes and faced the person in the mirror.

For a long moment, I saw… _me_. I released the breath I'd been holding in, it coming out as a breathy, slightly hysterical laugh. I saw _me_! I definitely looked older, with more worry lines, but…I almost felt like I knew the person in the mirror this time.

But I blinked and suddenly I saw Beckendorf, gaunt, his eyes completely white, his skin peeling away like he'd been submerged in water too long. With a sharp intake of breath, I quickly slammed the cabinet closed, squeezing my eyes shut, and leaning over the counter. My stomach rolled and I clamped one of my hands over my mouth, forcing breaths through my nose.

I tried to dispel the image, an image I hadn't seen in a long while. Tears burned my eyes and I felt a panic attack coming on. I pulled back from the counter, cupping my hands over my mouth to help regulate my breathing and stave off the attack. My eyes caught the covered mirror and I almost convinced myself that it had all been a mistake.

Yet…I'd seen myself, I'd seen someone I recognized. Even if it was for just a moment. I was making progress. Closing my eyes again, I held onto that feeling, forcing out the image of Beckendorf and replacing it with the woman I'd just seen. Eventually, I calmed down, having avoided the panic attack.

Grabbed the glass, I excited the bathroom, feeling like another weight had lifted from my chest.

I was making progress.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So…not exactly _how_ I wanted it to be longer, but still, longer chapter for ya'll. :D Also, still didn't get what I actually wanted to in this chapter, but it will definitely be in the next chapter, which I'm super excited about!
> 
> Sorry the therapist stuff was so vague, but, like, I'm not really a therapist and I didn't really want to represent the profession in the wrong way. Also, some things are better summarized, I think I got the gist across pretty well.
> 
> As always, hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated!
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	27. If You're Stressed, It's Fine Dining We Suggest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last two-thirds of this chapter is complete and utter self-gratification, and living vicariously (for the most part) through my characters, so like, no judgement.
> 
> It's wholly a filler chapter including sibling bonding, friendship bonding, fluff, a musical number, and plain old fun, with some plot mixed in, of course.

"Hey, you…coming to lunch?" Will asked, popping his head into the sword fighting area. I looked up from where I was sitting and over at him.

"Oh, I…just needed a moment," I said, taking a deep, shaky breath. My chronic pain was acting up today for no apparent reason. Being away from a ton of other people sometimes helped. After my intermediate swordsmanship class, I'd gone to the bleachers and sat down, closed my eyes, and listened to the blissful silence of the arena and the muted noise of life just outside.

Will nodded, not saying anything, before fully stepping into view. I squinted my eyes trying to get a better look, for he was in shadow, but if I wasn't mistaken, he had two plates of food in each hand.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked.

A smile stretched across my lips. "Of course not." I patted the empty space next to me. Will came forward—as he did, I took some pain meds—and handed me my plate before setting his down and sitting next to me on the bench.

"Thanks," I mumbled through a mouthful of food.

Will shrugged. "I figured if you weren't coming to lunch, I should bring lunch to you." I snorted but continued to shovel food into my mouth. I was hungrier than I thought I'd be and was suddenly very grateful Will had brought food. "You know," he started. "Between your chores, your classes, your training, Rowan, Nico, and Leo, we barely get to see you anymore."

I glanced at Will through the corners of my eyes. He had his plate in his lap, but had set his fork down and was not looking out across the arena. I finished chewing my food and swallowed, straightening up and looking over at him fully.

"Aw, you guys miss me, that's cute," I joked, nudging him with my shoulder. He made a face and stuck his tongue out at me.

"Yeah, of course, we miss you," Will defended. "I mean, ever since Nico started showing up more to camp, it's been really eating into our sibling time, you know?"

I raised an eyebrow and moved my plate to a safe place on the bench, where it had less of a chance being knocked over, so I could turn to face my half-brother fully. Well as fully as I could since we were both sitting.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is more about Nico and me hanging out, all of a sudden?" I asked. Will purposefully avoided my gaze, but I saw his throat go as he swallowed hard. "You jealous?" I teased, leaning back, using my hands to hold me up.

Will flinched like he'd been shocked, his head snapping over to me, blue eyes wide. "Whaaaaat?" His voice had gone up a few octaves, then lowered, "No!" Will scoffed. "I'm not—why would—what?" he spluttered, blushing furiously.

I sat forward, and put a hand on Will's shoulder. "Whoa, hey, I'm sorry I upset you. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just teasing. He's _much_ too young for me."

Will laughed nervously. "Of course I knew that! Why…why wouldn't I?"

I carefully removed my hand, looking at him cautiously. "Are you okay? You reacted kind of strongly to that."

His face still red as a beet, Will reached up to scratch his ear and he sniffed. "I have…no idea what you're talking about."

I snorted and turned to face forwards, shoving him with my hand. "You liar." I glanced over at him through my peripherals. He was quiet, staring down at his plate. I looked forward again, brushing some stray hairs from my face. "You know I'd never judge you, right?" I felt his eyes turn on me, and slowly turned my head to meet his gaze.

Will looked conflicted and scared.

"You also don't have to tell me anything that you're not ready to tell me, either," I assured, putting a hand back on his shoulder and squeezing gently.

Will gave me a small smile before looking back down at his plate. His hands rested on the bench, but his knuckles were white, his arms tense, indicating he was gripping the edge. I removed my hand and picked my plate up again, continuing to eat. Occasionally, I'd make a comment or tell him what I was thinking about. He'd politely reply in a low voice, but I could tell he didn't really feel like having a conversation. Thankfully, he'd started eating again.

I kept talking, not expecting an answer, but trying to make him feel more comfortable.

We'd polished our plates, and I'd set mine aside, sitting back and enjoying the warmth of the sun. Will sat quietly next to me, with his plate still in his lap. He was playing with his fork, gently scraping it across the surface of the plate, applying just enough pressure that it made noise, but didn't scrap horrifically.

Will sighed heavily, dropping his fork, and straightened up. I opened my eyes and watched his back.

"IhaveacrushonNico," he said so fast it took my brain a moment to comprehend what he'd just said.

I sat up, grinning, giddy in fact. "Yes!" I exclaimed, making Will jump. "Kayla, Austin, and Lyra are going to be so _cheesed_." My half-brother turned his head to look at me confused, but then he seemed to understand the meaning of my words and his confusion turned into mortification.

"You guys were _making bets_?"

I had to stifle my chortles to be able to answer him. "Those three thought you'd come out _much_ later. Oh, I'm so glad me, Cressida, and Reed were right!"

Will inhaled deeply, like he was trying to get as much oxygen in his lungs so he could chew me out or yell at me. Instead, he set his plate aside harshly, stood, and started stomping to the exit. I could tell he wasn't mad, though, more embarrassed than anything else.

Still giggling like an idiot, I quickly stood and followed him.

"Will, wait!" I called, jogging to catch up to him. "Come on! We all respect your orientation. And we all wanted you to come out to us on your own terms. We were just…having a little fun to occupy ourselves until then." I caught up to him and blocked his path, holding my hands out in front of me, to stop his momentum, but also to defend against an attack if he really was angry.

"Oh, my gods." He buried his faced in his hands. "How long have you guys known?" he mumbled through his fingers.

"Oh, Will." I pulled him into a tight hug, trying to hide the laughter in my voice at my winning, and rubbed his back soothingly. "It's okay."

"You're only saying that because you won the bet." His voice was still muffled.

I bit my lip, trying not to burst out laughing again. "That's…not t-true."

Will pulled away, glaring at me, but it was half-hearted. His face was still cherry red.

" _I'm_ insufferable? _You're_ insufferable," he deadpanned. I broke down laughing, then, unable to keep it in anymore. I hadn't laughed like this in _so long_ —leave you breathless, stomach-cramping, pure laughter. Maybe a bit hysterical, too, but could you really blame me? It'd been a stressful few months.

"I _really_ hope you're laughing because Kayla, Austin, and Lyra lost the bet," Will commented in a monotone.

"I am," I gasped through my guffaws. "I am."

I'm not sure how long I'd laughed, but by the time I finally got control of myself, my stomach hurt and was cramping, and tears had streamed down my face. I'd even had to lie down on the arena floor. Little bursts of giggles kept escaping, though, no matter how hard I tried to repress them.

"Are you quite done?" Will asked.

Carefully getting to my feet, panting and wiping the tears from my face and eyes, I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm good. For now." I snickered and tried not to break down laughing again. "You should talk to him." I suggested, going over to our plates and grabbing them, stacking them on top of each other.

Will had turned to look at me, his eyebrows furrowed. "Huh?"

"To Nico," I clarified, walking back to Will. "I could even get the conversation started if you'd like."

Will crossed his arms, lifting his chin. "I've talked to him before," he stated in a very matter-of-fact tone.

"Yes, but when did you start forming feeling for him?"

Will deflated, dropping his arms, blushing again. "After he stared showing up to camp more," he muttered. "Okay," Will lifted his head, his voice stronger, "but how am I supposed to know he likes guys, too?"

"That's why you have to just hang out with him more, talk to him." I started to head out of the arena, lunch would be coming to an end soon.

"Oh, you mean like how you and Nick hang out and talk?" Will asked in a mocking tone.

I froze, keeping my back to my half-brother as unwanted blood rushed into my face.

"That's…not the same thing," I stuttered, not moving. I waited, listening to his footsteps echo across the arena floor as Will came up to me, stopping just behind me, to my right. Then his head popped into view as he leaned forward, his eyes on my face. I jerked my head to the left, still avoiding his gaze.

"Yes," he said, coming to stand next to me, straightening up. "And is that why you're _blushing_?" He poked my cheek and I put both plates in one hand so I could swat his hand away.

"It's not like that," I protested, finally looking over Will. He was grinning, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "We're just _friends_."

"Sure you are."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I glared at him, but he simply smiled and started to walk ahead of me, hands behind his back. When he got to the entrance, he spun to face me.

"We'd better head back or we'll be late to our next activity," he said in a bubbly voice.

I glared at him a moment longer before finally going up to him. As we exited, I shoved him playfully with my shoulder. Laughing, he shoved me back. We exchanged a glance and a smile. It was so nice to get moments like these again—playful, happy, and just plain fun.

* * *

Sighing, I turned off the shower, grabbing my towel, drying my face, and wrapping it firmly around me. As I stepped out in the steam-filled bathroom, I realized my clothes weren't in their usual spot on the counter. Frowning, I looked around the room to see if I'd accidentally misplaced them tonight, but quickly came to realize there were _no_ clothes to be found in the bathroom. It wasn't really like my siblings to pull pranks on me. They knew my wrath wasn't worth the prank (they still pranked me, of course, but they chose them carefully, picking the ones that wouldn't piss me off).

Still, stealing my clothes wasn't their style. Having lived together so long, I'd seen all my siblings naked before (not exactly by choice, we respected each other's privacy, of course). And because were the camp's medics, I'd seen plenty of campers naked before, so nakedness wasn't a problem to me. It was more that I was annoyed they were trying to pull something when all I'd wanted to do was have a relaxing shower and then go to dinner.

With another sigh, this one more exasperated than the last, I went to the door and cracked it open, poking my head through.

"Who stole my clothes?" I half-growled. Before I could take a good look around the cabin, Cressida, Kayla, and Lyra came up to me, blocking my view pretty well between the three of them. I narrowed my eyes, smelling something fishy. They were all grinning, and Cressida was holding what looked to be a garment bag on a hanger in her hand.

"We did," Lyra answered.

"Look, if this is payback for losing the bet—" I started.

"It's not, actually," Cressida interrupted. She held the bag forward, then. "Put this on. Tell us when you're done. Don't come out."

I did a sweep of their grinning faces, trying to figure out what was going on. Despite their smiles, they gave nothing away. Except for maybe barely contained excitement.

"And if I say no?" I asked.

"We're not going to let you leave the bathroom," Kayla answered before I'd even finished speaking.

Gritting my teeth, I opened the door wider and held out my hand for the bag. Smiles widening, Cressida passed the bag over to me. I slammed the door closed and threw the bag onto the counter so I could dry off. After blow-drying my hair, dreading having to open up the bag and see what was inside, I finally turned my attention to it. I suppose I could've demanded they tell me what was in it and what this was even all about, but I also knew I'd be wasting my time and breath. They could be just as bull-headed as I was when it came to certain situations. I had a feeling, by how secretive they were being, this was one of those situations.

Taking a quiet breath, I lifted the hanger with one hand, and unzipped the bag with the other. The further down I zipped, the more mortified I became. And incredulous. I looked over my shoulder at the door behind me.

"There's no way!" I shouted, holding the open bag aloft.

"Just put it on!" Cressida's muffled shout came back. I turned back to glare at the dress before me, and scowled. It wasn't that I didn't like dresses, I'd worn plenty before my life as a demigod (nothing as fancy as this, though). After, it just wasn't practical. (Needless to say, I had no idea why they were forcing me into a dress tonight.)

I reached up and pinched the fabric of the skirt, rubbing it between my fingers, thinking of the time an Aphrodite kid had ambushed me and forced—well, I say forced—me into a dress. It was back when I was still with Luke on his ship. It was so bittersweet. Thinking about Luke always made me sad, but the memory was very sweet.

This dress, of course, was much more modern than the dress I'd worn then. Then, it'd been more in the style of what women in Ancient Greece would've worn. This dress was a wicked red, tight around the torso. It was one-shouldered, with fake jewels decorating the strap in a flowery pattern and stopped just under the bust, but at a diagonal. The skirt was a high low and made of layered, uneven ruffles. It started at the hip and also went at a diagonal, parallel with the fake jewels.

Looking at the dress, I was actually starting to get excited. I'd always liked getting dressed up and going out. I don't know if it was a child of Apollo thing, like Leo had pointed out, or something else, but whenever I did get dressed up people tended to stare. It was, honestly, gratifying.

Biting my lip on a smile, I pulled the dress off the hanger and carefully slipped it on. The front of the skirt stopped just above my knees, the back stopped at my ankles. I unnecessarily smoothed out the ruffles before going over to the door to the bathroom. For some reason, I was getting nervous, now.

I cracked open the door again and peeked out. My three half-sisters were waiting by the door, but they'd all changed while I'd been in the bathroom. Now that I could see the cabin, I realized they split it in half with a few dividers from the infirmary. My gaze went back to my sisters. They were also wearing dresses now. I wondered if on the other side were my brothers. Had they changed, too?

The three of them stood when I opened the door and came forward, grinning with excitement. Cressida had gotten hold of a chair, also from the infirmary.

I pulled back, and Lyra pushed open the door, holding what looked to be shiny, red flats in one of her hands. She was wearing a long, flowing, yellow gown with a jeweled belt around her wait. The dress contrasted her dark skin nicely. She turned to close the door after everyone was in, chair and all, and I realized it was slightly backless, the straps of the front—matching the belt—coming up and around the back of the neck in a continuous loop like that of a cocktail dress.

"Are you guys going to tell me what's going on, or…?" I asked, backing further into the bathroom, crossing my arms.

"Nope," Kayla chirped.

I made a face. "Of course not."

Kayla was wearing a dress that matched her green hair. Hers was completely backless, with thin golden straps of fabric coming up from underneath her arms, across her shoulder blades, and up to the choker-like piece of the dress around her neck. The front had a sash going across her torso, starting on her right and ending at her left hip. The skirt reminded me a flapper dress, only the threads weren't tiered, they simply dropped down from the dress, the ends at a diagonal. She also had green bangles around her biceps.

"Here, put these on," Lyra said, throwing the shoes at me. I just barely managed to catch them.

"And take a seat while you're at it," Cressida said, gesturing to the chair she'd brought in and positioned a few feet away from one of the sinks at the counter. Kayla was gathering up hair and makeup supplies, setting them out on the counter.

I pursed my lips, narrowing my eyes at them for a moment before deciding to just let it be. I sat down and slipped the flats on, a red that matched my dress. I realized at the heel were ribbons. I picked them up to examine them, not quite sure what they were for.

"You're supposed to tie them up around your legs," Cressida explained. I looked up at her helplessly. She rolled her eyes and smiled, but I could tell it was good-natured. I sat back as Cressida came forward and took the ribbons, wrapping them carefully around my leg and tying them off. They stopped about half-way up my calf.

Cressida's dress matched her personality—very cute. It was a short dark blue dress, stopping just above her knees all the way around. The skirt looked to be layered ruffles like mine, but with a solid skirt underneath, just in case. Around her waist were three rows of flat, silver buttons. The torso of the dress was white with very short sleeves that stopped just at her shoulders, making them almost straps. And layered over the white was a pattern of dark blue flowers that went around her waist and bust, up and around to cover her shoulders, but left the chest bare.

Cressida proceeded to tie the other ribbon as Kayla and Lyra continued to put stuff on the counter.

"You guys are seriously going to use _all_ of that?" I questioned incredulously.

"Oh, quit your complaining," Kayla scolded. "Sit back, close your eyes, and relax."

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and chewed my lip. "How long is this going to take?"

"If you need, we'll let you get up and stretch your legs," Cressida reassured, squeezing my shoulder. "Do you need any pain meds right now?"

I shook my head, the shower had done wonders for now. Trying to relax and forcing my breath from my lungs, I got a little more comfortable and closed my eyes. This didn't last long, though, because as they started getting stuff ready, the noise without a visual made me too anxious.

Instead I watched as Kayla grabbed the foundation and started her application. Behind her, Cressida and Lyra were preparing eye shadow, getting out pencils for eyeliner, and shaking mascara bottles. I occasionally had to close my eyes, but I was feeling more and more relaxed. I also kind of knew what to expect so the noises weren't as concerning.

Once Kayla had finished with the foundation, Cressida came forward with blush. Then it was the eyes. They took longer than I thought they would. I didn't know _what_ Lyra was doing, but the poking, prodding, and pulling was driving me nuts. Just when I was about to tell her to leave it, she finally stopped.

Kayla finished my face by applying the lipstick. It was also a bright red, to match my dress and shoes.

Unfortunately, they weren't done. It was on to my hair, next. Thankfully, they let me stand and walk around a bit as Kayla heated up the curling iron. Cressida prepared the hairspray. When I sat back down, Lyra gently brushed through my hair. When the curling iron was finished, they started curling my hair, but not as close to my head as they could get, which I thought was a bit strange. Afterward, when they carefully combed my hair and swept the ringlets over my right shoulder before clipping it with a large, bedazzled clip, so it'd stay in place, I realized why.

"Finished!" they exclaimed together, stepping away from me. I stood up, letting out a small breath, glad it was finally over.

"Okay, _now_ will you tell me what's going on?" I asked, turning to face them.

"No, _now_ we need to get ready," Cressida answered. They went toward the counter again, and I deftly moved out of the way so they could get at the makeup.

"You guys…didn't need to do all that," I said as they gathered what they'd personally need and went to a mirror each, opening up the doors. "I could've put something light on and put my hair in a braid."

"It's fine, we wanted to," Kayla assured, applying her own layer of foundation. Watching them work almost in sync was kind of frightening.

"Yeah, it was really fun to just pamper you," Lyra added, reading for her blush.

"But I— Can I help you with…with anything?" I asked, feeling awkward now. Despite their reassurances, I felt guilty for taking up so much of their time. Time they could've spent getting themselves ready.

"We're good," Cressida answered.

"Okay," I whispered, looking around the bathroom, unsure of what to do. I had a feeling if I tried to leave, I wouldn't get very far before they yelled at me. I wandered a bit, glanced out the window, took some pain meds. It really hadn't been very long, it just _felt_ that way.

I ended up leaning against the counter, next to Lyra's section of counter. I watched her apply her eye makeup and glanced at her reflection in the mirror. My curiosity shot through the roof out of the blue, and I turned to face the covered mirror in front of me. After all that work, I had to wonder what I looked like now.

Chewing the inside of my lip, I reached for the knob on the door covering the mirror before deciding maybe it wasn't such a good idea. I didn't know how long I'd have until the dead showed up again. At the same time, the feeling of being able to see… _myself_ again was like a drug. It felt so good, and I wanted more.

Before I could lose my nerve, I grabbed the knob and pulled the little door open. Just like before, I felt a rush of warmth in my chest, the burn of tears in my eyes when I saw myself. This time, there was an added bonus: I was wearing makeup.

Knowing I only had a limited amount of time, I focused on my eyes, because that was the area they'd worked on the most, and it was honestly stunning. I'd always been self-conscious about my brown eyes because it seemed like all anyone ever talked about were blue, grey, green eyes. But it was like they'd worked some kind of makeup magic, because the colors they used made them stand out in a way I thought they'd never be able to.

They didn't pop like light eyes would, but they seemed… _browner_ , like a dark topaz or an auburn sky. The splash of silver in the inside corner of my eyelid really helped with the effect. To finish, I had perfect winged eyeliner, which sealed the deal. For the first time, I actually _loved_ my eyes.

My time was up, though. I blinked and this time Michael's face replaced my reflection. His skin was discolored, but that wasn't the worst of it. I thought Beckendorf had been bad, but Michael's face was bloated, nearly beyond recognition, indicative of his body being left in the East River.

I gagged, my stomach rolling, and slammed the door shut, retching over the sink. My eyes watered and when I'd gotten over the revulsion, I had to cup my hands over my mouth and nose—carefully so as to not mess up my sisters' makeup work—to regulate my breathing. I felt warm pressure on my shoulder and opened my watering eyes to see my sisters, eyebrows furrowed with worry. Their lips were moving, but I couldn't hear them over the ringing in my ears.

I held up a finger, and closed my eyes again as I tried to get control of my breathing, trying to replace the image of Michael with my image, remembering the feeling of thinking my eyes were beautiful for once in my life.

My hands were shaking and some tears had leaked through my eyes, but I finally got my breathing under control and my stomach was no longer in a tightly wound knot.

"Sorry," I apologized in hoarse voice. Lyra was massaging my shoulder. "I'll be okay." I dabbed at the tear on my cheek. "I ruined all your hard work, though."

Kayla came back over with a tissue and carefully dabbed at where my tears had fallen.

"We used waterproof makeup," Cressida said with a small smile and a wink. "Just in case."

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Of course you did."

Just then a knock sounded. We all looked as someone opened the door tentatively, sticking their head in and scanning the room. It was Austin and from what I could tell through the crack in the door, he was wearing a suit. Okay, so even the boys were dressed up. The first thing that came to mind with all this formalwear was possibly a dance, but the camp didn't really do dances. I mean, we had them, but they were few and far between.

"Antoinette's here," he announced. "You girls all ready?"

My three sisters nodded, their excitement growing. I looked around at all of them.

"Wait," I snapped before anyone could move, holding up a hand. "Antoinette? Dan's _girlfriend_ , Antoinette? The mortal, fully human, Antoinette?"

My siblings looked at me like I was losing it.

"Yes, of course," Kayla answered, putting a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off and pulled away from my sisters, standing so I could see them and Austin, still in the doorway.

"Okay, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what this is all about now." I crossed my arms. "I think it's gone on long enough and I deserve to know."

They all exchanged looks before playing a quick game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who was going to tell me. Kayla lost. Smoothing down her dress she went up to me with a sweet smile.

"There's a dance tonight," she told me. "Chiron's been planning it for a while now. To celebrate the Spring Equinox. Just to lift our spirits a bit. Tensions have been high at camp lately and with the prophecy everyone's been worried and stressed. He thought it'd be a good idea to do something fun."

"Okay." I could accept that. In fact, I was excited at this prospect. I hadn't been to a dance in a long time. I had a feeling it was going to be a bit different than a school dance, hopefully with food, because we were having it around dinnertime and I was actually hungry. "Now, what about Antoinette? How is she getting through the border?" Then something occurred to me and I dropped my arms. "Is Dan coming, too? Is he here?"

Kayla smiled and nodded gleefully. "Yep! He's going to be here tonight. He hasn't told Antoinette that he's a demigod, so the Hecate cabin have done some Mist work, but Chiron's allowing her past the border for tonight and tonight only. It's a special occasion."

"She's waiting in our cabin right now," Austin added, shifting awkwardly in the doorway.

"We should get going, soon, anyway," Cressida said, going to the door, passing by me and gently grabbing my arm as she did, pulling me along. "The dance has started a few minutes ago!"

I followed my siblings out. The dividers had been removed by this point. The rest of my siblings, save Dan, were standing near the door, talking with Antoinette. All the guys were dressed in different suits, some with ties some with bowties. I was surprised at the array of colors, but it was actually nice not to be drowning in a sea of black and white tuxedos and suits.

Antoinette was stunning. Her dress was a deep plum high low. The skirt flared out from her bust, stopping just above her knees, flaring out at the back in ruffles akin to the ruffles on my dress. When she turned to face Will to say something to him, I saw there was also a bow at the back, with long ribbons flowing down from it, blending in with the back of the dress. Finally, a sash-like strap went across her left shoulder, decorated with a purple flower design. Her pin-straight jet black hair was left down, but tucked behind her ear with a purple peony holding it in place.

As the rest of my siblings joined the other boys to greet Antoinette, I quickly slipped the ankle sheath of my dagger onto my thigh. I had to put it higher than I was used to in order to hide it within the skirt of my dress, but I was thankful that it was flexible that way, too. I was also glad I'd shaved. Usually, I didn't because there was no point if I was just going to wear jeans all the time. Even if I wasn't, it wasn't like I needed to be clean-shaven when fighting monsters. The only reason I did every now and again was just to be able to feel my smooth skin afterward as a reward to myself for hard work.

Cressida had mentioned shaving off-handedly as I'd gone into the bathroom for my shower and with it on my mind, I'd decided it wouldn't be such a bad idea.

When they noticed I wasn't with them, I'd secured my dagger and its sheath. Smiling, I greeted Antoinette, who insisted on giving me a hug.

"You look absolutely stunning," I said as I pulled away.

"Thank you," she replied. "You look beautiful, as well."

"Thanks."

Reed came over and draped his arm over my shoulders. I tensed, not expecting this and glared at him. "Dan's already at the pavilion. We all decided that we wanted to…surprise him."

"Oh." I straightened up and dropped my glare. "I'm sure he's going to love it." I smiled, looking at Antoinette, who blushed and ducked her head. "We'd better get going, then. Don't want to miss all the fun."

Once outside, we arranged it so that we surrounded Antoinette, kind of like bodyguards, but more subtle. I could see the lights, hear the chatter, and music playing from the pavilion half-way there. My excitement grew and my stomach knotted with…nerves? But for the first time in a long time, they were good nerves. I was eagerly anticipating this dance because it brought back so many good memories of childhood before…well, before I became a demigod.

As we entered the pavilion, which had been rearranged to host this dance, all chatter stopped and all eyes turned toward us. I heard someone choke and fall into a coughing fit. My eyes flickered over to what looked to be the table with all the drinks. One of the older campers was leaning over the table, trying to muffle their coughs. With their back turned to me and head bowed, though, I couldn't tell who it was.

All the tables had been pushed to the edges, arranged like the cabins were, with the brazier we gave our food offerings still standing in the middle. Across all the tables were various arrangements of hors d'oeuvres, appetizers, steaming hot food, and deserts. They were decorated with flower arrangements and candles.

"Victoria," Dan called, coming toward us with a grin. He was looking quite handsome in a black suit, with a white button down, and a deep purple tie. Upon closer inspection, he had a matching purple handkerchief in his breast pocket. To match Antoinette, not doubt.

I smiled and waved to acknowledge his greeting before stepping aside just as Austin did to let Antoinette step forward.

Dan's steps faltered before he came to a stop. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened. Antoinette blushed, ducking her head again. Closing his mouth, Dan swallowed hard, and tried to take a step forward, but faltered again. Behind me, I could hear my siblings murmur and snicker.

"Um," Dan breathed before finding his feet again and starting forward. That seemed to trigger Antoinette, for she started toward Dan.

I exchanged a look with Austin and smirked, winking. He nodded, grinning. Like clockwork, just before Dan and Antoinette could meet, Austin and I intercepted them. I took Dan's hand in mine and put a hand on his arm as Austin took Antoinette's hand and put a hand on the back of her shoulder.

"Let's dance, I love this song," I told my brother, spinning him to my right as Austin spun Antoinette to his. Both of them seemed too stunned to pull away. All they could do was stare at each other longingly as they passed each other.

Our other siblings joined us on the dance floor. The music was turned up, and soon other campers from other cabins, satyrs, and nymphs were twirling across the marble floor along with us, while the rest stood at the edges and ate food.

"You look nice tonight," I told my brother.

"Uh, yeah…um, thanks." He blinked, tearing his gaze away from Antoinette and looking at me. "You look nice yourself. I'm surprised they managed to get you in a dress."

"Har, har, very funny. You know I loved dresses when I was little."

Dan's eyes became wistful and nostalgic, his smile smaller and maybe the tiniest bit sad. "Yeah, you did."

We didn't talk much afterward, just enjoying the dance. Every now and again, my siblings and I would switch dance partners as we spun, but kept pulling Dan and Antoinette away from each other, as a joke.

" _How_ did you guys manage that?" Cressida asked as I twirled around with her. I glanced at Dan who was currently with Kayla, laughing at his attempt to get to Antoinette before turning to face Cressida again.

"Honestly it was completely and totally a snap decision," I told her shrugging.

She snorted. "I find that hard to believe. It worked out _too_ well for you not finding out we were even having a dance until just a few minutes ago. You know, if you actually listened to the word around camp, you might've known sooner about this."

I rolled my eyes. "But it would've ruined _your_ surprise. There's no way you've would've been able to get me all dolled up for it had I known in advance and you know it."

"Yeah, yeah." Cressida spun me out and Austin took hold of my free hand. I smiled at my sister before turning to face Austin.

"What do you think, should we let them be together now?" he asked, looking over my head. I glanced behind me to see them spin past each other again.

"The song's just about done," I contemplated. "Since I'm feeling generous, we could probably let them be with each other now."

Austin snickered. "I'm not feeling _as_ generous, but considering you're his full-blooded sister, I'll agree with you."

I rolled my eyes but smiled. We twirled closer to Dan and Antoinette, before spinning away from each other as our other siblings spun away from the two lovebirds. I quickly took Antoinette's hand, Austin taking Dan this time.

"You did that on purpose," she whispered to me, her face flushed.

I grinned. "I did. You ready to see him now?"

She nodded vigorously, a small smile forming on her lips. I stepped away, keeping hold of her hand before twirling her and pushing her in Dan's direction just as Austin turned Dan around and shoved him toward Antoinette.

I stepped back to the outskirts of the dance floor and watched, my heart aching, as they faced each other. They were both blushing and stuttering before Dan stepped forward and whispered something in her ear. Antoinette nodded eagerly after he'd pulled back. Dan smiled, giving her a quick peck on the lips before spinning around and walking away. The music that was playing stopped abruptly.

I was confused at first, wondering what Dan had said to her and why the music had stopped, when Will came up to me and grabbed my arm. I jumped, my hand twitching to my dagger, but I stopped myself before I could actually grab it.

"Come on," he murmured, excitedly, pulling me past Antoinette, toward where Dan was heading. "'Be Our Guest,'" he informed me. I nodded, realizing what he meant now. See, one of the kids…or, rather, _all_ of them had requested "Be Our Guest" one time. Since it was a song I felt I couldn't do alone, I promised them to come back the next night and perform with my siblings. We wanted to time to compose our own, "updated" version. Completely acapella, too.

The next night, we'd surprised the camp and kids, by performing at dinner after everyone had sat down, but before they could officially start eating. We'd even put together some choreography for it, just to be entertaining. I insisted we just sing, but my siblings thought that was no fun, so choreography it was.

Originally, Will had been at the lead, but now it was Dan, since he was basically greeting Antoinette into camp tonight. They must've taught him the blocking at some point while I'd been busy doing chores, or teaching classes, or going to my therapy sessions. Though, where _Dan_ had found the time was a mystery to me. He was just as busy, if not more so, than I was.

We started in a line, with Dan at the back and began just the melody. As Dan recited Lumière's lines from the movie, he walked forward and we all stepped to the side for him to be able to.

Our version was shorter than the original in the movie, but going by Antoinette's wide smile, she was enjoying it.

On the line, "If you're stressed, it's fine dining we suggest." Dan went up and took Antoinette's hand, kissing the top of it, causing her to blush furiously.

When we'd finished, there was a big round of applause. Dan went back up to Antoinette, pulling her into his arms and exchanging a kiss, causing the crowd to cheer louder. I smiled, but the ache in my chest increased tenfold. They pulled away, then, and Dan offered his hand. He pulled Antoinette in for a dance as the music picked back up to a slower, mellower song and the cheering died down.

Austin came up beside me and nudged me with his elbow. I looked up at him and he held out his fist with a wink. I rolled my eyes but fist-bumped him before he went off with some of his friends.

I turned my attention back to my brother and his girlfriend, content on watching them dance. Even if it made me sad, too. The way they looked at each other, never taking their eyes off each other was…so sweet. It made me long for Luke.

"They're good together," Will commented, coming to stand next to me.

"They are," I sighed.

"Come on, you should eat something." Will gently gripped my arm, steering me toward one of the many food-filled tables. I decided to stick with the finger-foods and snacks just because a full meal felt a little messy in a dress like this. With enough, they could be perfectly filling.

I didn't join the dance floor again for a while, just enjoying watching everyone else as I nibbled on my finger sandwiches and mini pigs-in-a-blanket. At one point, Wally came running up to me. He was dressed in a little suit, which I'll admit was absolutely adorable on him. (I had to wonder when everyone had gone out and bought all this stuff, though. I didn't think any of us kept formal wear in our closets because they'd never get used, what with how our lives were.)

"Hi, Victoria!" he greeted. "You look pretty tonight. I like the color of your dress."

I kneeled down to be at his level and smiled, ruffling his hair, laughing when he swatted my hand away. "Thank you, Wally. And you're looking handsome tonight."

For some reason, Wally didn't like that and frowned. "I can't be pretty, too?"

"Oh, of course you can," I quickly amended. "You can even be beautiful."

Wally beamed. "Thank you!" he exclaimed before running off, back into the crowd.

I stood, smiling, watching him weave through the crowd.

"For someone who doesn't like kids, you sure are good with them," someone commented from behind. My hand went to my dagger automatically and I spun around, only to come face to face with Nico.

"Nico!" I exclaimed, dropping my hand and grinning. To my surprise he wasn't wearing all black, or dark colors. He had a white button down on, untucked, with the sleeves rolled up just past his elbows. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his black slacks, his shoes were black, and the tie that was hanging loosely around his neck was also black. "It's good to see you."

"Good to see you, too." He nodded, giving me a small smile. "You look…good."

"Thanks. You clean up pretty nicely, too," I replied. Nico shrugged. "Not going to stay long, I assume."

"Dances," Nico muttered, looking around the pavilion. "Not really my thing." He grimaced before looking back at me. I remembered, then, that he'd been at a dance—almost kidnapped by a manticore—when he and his sister, Bianca, found out they were demigods and Bianca made the decision that would ultimately end up killing her.

"Thank you for showing up," I said earnestly.

Nico shrugged, hunching his shoulders a bit and shifted on his feet.

Just then, Will came running up to me. "Victoria, your boyfriend wants to see you," he sang.

I flinched at his word choice. "If you're talking about Nick, next time, I would prefer if you used his _name_ ," I snapped, glaring at my brother. Will simply smiled. "Did he send you over here to get me? Why not just come over himself?"

Will snorted. "Have you even _seen_ him? He's been staring at you all night and he can barely function. Walking across the dance floor, let alone talking to you, would probably actually kill him."

"Then why does he want to talk to me _now_?" I asked, my irritation growing. At the same time, I realized who'd fell into a coughing fit when my cabin and I had arrived with Antoinette.

"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me—" Will broke off suddenly, his back going ramrod straight. His mouth slammed shut and his eyes went wide.

"Will?" I asked, carefully, putting a hand on his arm. "Are you okay?"

Instead of answering me, he spun so suddenly to face Nico, I jumped. "Hi, Nico!" he greeted, perhaps a bit too loud.

"Um…hi." Nico looked just as confused as I'd been. Now that I knew why Will was acting the way he was, I was less confused and not at all worried.

"It's good to see you, you look good," Will continued in a loud, nervous voice.

Nico blinked, not expecting that, and shifted, swallowing hard like he was unsure how to respond to that. "Uh, um, thanks. Y-you…uh, you look…good…as well…?"

"Thanks!" Will gave an open-mouthed grin, then he grabbed my arm with both hands. "Shouldn't keep your boyfriend waiting, Victoria." Without waiting for my response, he started pulling me away.

"Stop calling him that!" I hissed before turning to look apologetically at Nico. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm going. I'll see you later. Thanks again for showing up. Have a snack or something before you leave."

Nico gave me a lazy salute, a lopsided smile on his lips. "See you later, Victoria."

I turned to face front as Will pulled us through the crowd of teens and kids on the dance floor. When I looked back as we neared Nick, Nico had disappeared.

"All right, here you are," Will announced as we came up to Nick. His face was already red, and he was shifting nervously, fiddling with his glasses, pulling at the collar of his shirt, like it was on too tight. "I'll just…leave you to it." I wanted to object, but Will was already off with Lou Ellen and Cecil again. I turned back to Nick and raised an eyebrow.

"Having fun?" I asked, trying to get the conversation started, despite knowing it was probably going to contain a lot of stuttering. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with it, I was just annoyed that he hadn't seemed to have gotten over his crush after all. Now that I was made aware of it, I was _painfully_ aware of it. I wasn't even really sure why I was annoyed with him when he acted this way around me (which is to say all the time, except when doing a magic trick), but I was.

"Y-yeah, I'm, uh," Nick swallowed hard. "H-having fun. How about…y-you?" He went to lean against the table, trying to be nonchalant but ended up putting his palm into a small bowl of pudding. With a choked yelp, he quickly pulled it away and reached for a napkin to clean up, only to accidentally run the side of his sleeve into the chocolate fountain.

I couldn't help but giggle a little as I stepped forward and quickly picked up several napkins at once, gently turning Nick to face me. I took his arm that was covered in chocolate first to try and get it out of the fabric before it stained, occasionally glancing up at Nick with an amused smile. He kept his eyes on the desert table with a tiny pout on his lips, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

I moved onto his hand after I thought I'd gotten most of the chocolate out and then threw the wad of napkins in a nearby bin.

"I've been having fun," I finally answered. "It's good to see my brother. It's good to see the camp just have fun, you know. This camp is by no means formal, and we have other fun activities, but training all day, every day can be hard." I looked out at everyone. "They're only kids, you know."

"Yeah, I can see what you mean," Nick said quietly. "They have to grow up so fast. And it's not fair."

I looked back at Nick about to say something else when Laurel and Holly, laughing loudly, and what looked to be damn near wrestling each other crashed into Nick, sending him forward, toward me. Nick yelped and I let out a small, "Oh!" as our bodies collided. I had to put my hand on the edge of the table and stepped back to steady myself.

Laurel and Holly went off again. Nick pulled away, but just so. He was so close I could feel the heat coming off his body, our breaths mingling in the air. His face was redder than I'd ever seen it, but he looked confused. Before I could ask him what the matter was, I felt his hand brush my right leg. I stiffened as his fingertips moved higher, pushing my skirt up.

My hand shot out and grabbed his wrist as I took another step back. I fought the urge to put him into a wrist lock, not wanting to bring attention to either of us. If he kept trying to advance, then I'd have no choice.

Nick seemed to snap out of whatever he'd been in from the pain of my grip. His eyes widened in realization.

"Oh my gods!" he exclaimed. "I'm so sorry! My hand brushed something hard on the side of your leg when we crashed into each other and I was curious. I wasn't thinking. Oh my gods, you must think I'm a fucking pervert now. I swear I'm not. I wasn't thinking—"

"Clearly not," I snapped, cutting him off. For some reason my heart was racing and my free hand was shaking. I could feel a blush in my cheeks, but I wasn't sure if it was out of embarrassment or anger or something else, or all the above. "You could've just asked, you know, like a normal person."

"I'm really sorry," Nick said again, in a more subdued voice, looking ashamed. "I promise not to _ever_ do that again. I…I don't know what I was thinking. My brain just…" He shook his head. "There's no excuse for what I did. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

"I'll think about it." I finally let go of his wrist and took another step away from him. Nick sagged, looking utterly defeated.

"I'm just gonna go…hide under a rock for the rest of my life," he mumbled. "Feel free to come tell me when you come up with something." Keeping his eyes on the floor, he shuffled off.

I let out a breath, trying to get my heart under control. My hands were still shaking, which I found strange. I felt my dagger through my skirt, almost thinking about that moment we'd crashed into each other. Thinking better of trying to analyze what'd happened, I, instead, shoved it into a drawer and locked it away before going to find my brother.

I spent a good long while hanging out with him and Antoinette. And alone at one point, as Antoinette spoke with Chiron and some other campers, even satyrs, and nymphs (the Mist was really doing its work). It was nice to just have a moment alone with him, chatting about random things. We barely had time to talk, let alone get together and hang out. Chiron must've been planning this for weeks for Dan to have been able to make sure this day was free.

"Sometimes you really _are_ oblivious," Dan commented as we watched Antoinette interact with the other campers. We were both leaning up against one of the tables. "I was so afraid that you'd find out before tonight and that you'd show up in a camp T-shirt and jeans."

I scoffed. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"But you love wearing that dress, don't you?"

I smiled, looking at Dan through the corners of my eyes. "I do. What I want to know now is when they bought it. And their dresses, too. And the suits."

"No one told you?" Dan sounded incredulous and so shocked I turned my head to look at him.

"No."

"It was the night you guys came to my performance, when they went to hang out with Antoinette."

I blinked, dropping my arms. "It was really that long ago?" Dan nodded and I scowled. "At least I know they can keep secrets, I guess," I muttered, looking out at the dance floor again. Dan laughed at this and I pursed my lips to keep from smiling.

When Antoinette came back over, I took my leave, to allow them more time alone together. It'd only been two hours by now, most of which I'd spent with Dan. The dance was supposed to go for three. Most of the younger campers had gone back to their cabins and gone to bed. Some of the older campers had, too. But a lot of them were still on the dance floor, dancing and enjoying the moment for as long as possible before we all had to go back to being demigods.

I found Will to tell him I was going to go visit Leo. I hadn't seen him all night, but I had a feeling of where he'd be. I'd gone to Bunker 9 so much by now, I knew how to get there by myself. When I got back to the cabin, I took more pain meds, slipped on some boy shorts, grabbed a jacket and a flashlight, changed my shoes to a pair of converse, and attached my sword and dagger to my waist. I was unwilling to completely change out of my dress and clean up my makeup. I wanted to enjoy this feeling of being able to dress up before going back to t-shirts and jeans.

The door to Bunker 9 was open, light shining brightly out. I hesitantly stepped in, looking around.

"Leo?" I called. The ship's hull had been built at this point in time, and now he and his siblings had started on work on the inside. I stepped in further when no one responded. "Leo?" I called, raising my voice.

Suddenly, I heard what sounded like mechanical whirring from inside the ship. I looked at the top and eventually, a familiar lanky Latino appeared in my view, as if being raised from a platform.

"Hey, Victoria!" Leo waved with a tool in his hand, grinning. I smiled and waved back. Leo jumped from whatever platform he was on into a cherry picker and slowly lowered himself to the ground, putting his tool in his toolbelt. "Wow." He whistled appreciatively as he approached. "You look…wow."

I snickered. "Enough to compete with the children of Aphrodite?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Leo glanced up and shook his head before looking at me again. "You're going to get me in trouble one of these days, you know. Do you _want_ Piper's mom to smite me? Is that your goal?"

I held up my hands in surrender. "You got me."

Leo clicked his tongue. "Ah, I knew it." He shook his head, but he was smiling and his eyes sparkled with amusement. "Disappointed."

I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jacket and shrugged. "Still want to hang out? Even though you know my villainous plot?"

Leo blinked and straightened up, all joking gone. "Don't you want to go to the dance?"

"Been there for a good two hours," I told him. "Noticed you weren't there, thought you might like some company before lights out."

A smile stretched across Leo's face. "Thanks. Come on, I'll show you want I'm working on right now." He ran back to the cherry picker and hopped on. "Nothing too terribly technical this time. You might even be able to keep up." He winked.

I scoffed rolled my eyes as I followed him, hopping into cherry picker next to him. "I'll have you know, I understand more than you think I do."

Leo laughed. "A, huh, _sure_ ," he said as we started to ascend in the machine. I shoved him playfully.

I spent the last hour watching Leo work. He was right, it was much less technical, more simply building the ship. Since he didn't have to focus so much on not blowing us up, it gave us the opportunity to chat more.

After the hour, we headed back to camp and I bid him goodnight. Then it was time to say goodbye to Dan and Antoinette. As usual, saying goodbye to Dan was always hard. Whenever I did, it always brought up my old anxieties and worries—mainly about monsters. Dan promised to text me when they both got safely back to their apartments. It wasn't completely reassuring, but it was the best either of us could do if I was going to let him have a life outside of being a demigod.

Exhausted, I wiped all the make up my face, took my hair down, and changed into my pajamas. I was half-awake and quickly falling asleep when I finally fell into bed, the pillow feeling exponentially soft because of how tired of I was. Thankfully, sleep came quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so huge effing chapter! But I really just wanted to get this all in one fell swoop since it's mostly just fun filler stuff. I'd gone back and forth on whether or not to include the dance, then after certain things transpired and decisions were made, I thought, "Why not?" It'd be fun and carefree, something Tori could definitely use. Then I was like, well I gotta address Dan and Tori's relationship, and Nico and Tori's relationship, and Nick and Tori's relationship, and I can't forget about Leo! Oh, and I just gotta have a preparation scene, because sister bonding, right? So, it turned into a behemoth.
> 
> These next few chapters will start slowly gearing up as we move back toward the HOO plot. So, I wanted to get one last fun little fling for ya'll before shit hit the fan. Again.
> 
> Finally, if you want to know kind of where I was going with that "Be Our Guest" musical number, go to YouTube and search: be our guest descendants. I watched the movie while on a plane back to the States (from China) because I was bored and there was nothing better to choose from. (I wouldn't say I enjoyed it, but the old Disney Channel original movies fucking own me so I thought I'd give it a try for shits and giggles. The fact that it had a musical element was a bonus.)
> 
> Obviously, title taken from "Be Our Guest."
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciate! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	28. Four Letter Word

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important: Please read the note at the bottom.

"Nick," I said, catching his attention. He looked up at me for the first time since I'd started class. I'd just finished explaining what the game plan was for today, but I wasn't sure Nick had been 100% listening. "You're with me."

I watched his throat go as he swallowed. My siblings all snickered, some of them nudging him.

"You're in _trouble_ ," Reed mocked under his breath. They didn't know what'd happened last night, I didn't tell them. They did know me enough to tell when I wasn't in a good mood, though.

"All right, get to work!" I announced, glaring at my siblings before sweeping my gaze across the rest of my class. "I'll check in on you in a few minutes. Remember to be careful."

I went up to Nick. "Ready?"

He was just finishing putting his glasses into a case and slipping that into his pocket. Finally, he looked up at me and nodded. For once, he wasn't blushing. Part of me was actually relieved, but the other part wondered what was wrong. Other than the obvious. He seemed much more subdued than one would be after what'd happened, but I wasn't a good judge on things like that because I didn't really deal with things like that on a regular basis. I was too busy fighting to survive, literally and figuratively.

As the class session went on, I came to find fairly quickly that he wasn't just quiet, he was distracted. And, okay, maybe I was pushing him a little harder than usual because I was still upset about what had happened, but it was like it was his first day all over again. I tried to instruct him, but he'd move too late or not at all and I'd get a hit on him with the flat of my sword.

By the time class was over, he was drenched in sweat and breathing hard, but still seemed kind of…droopy. Maybe sad is a better descriptor, but droopy described his posture well, too. I hadn't noticed in my archery class because I'd been helping another student, leaving him to his own devices for the day..

So I called him to stay after class. I took some pain meds as the kids returned their swords and waited for Nick by my bag. He took his time putting his sword away and shuffling over to me.

"Um, you wanted to talk—" he started in a quiet voice, but I held up a finger and glared the exit. My siblings were poking their heads in, trying to listen. I stared at them until they pulled away. Then I counted to thirty. Then I turned my attention to Nick.

"Sorry about that," I told him. "They love to eavesdrop. I just wanted to see how you were doing. You seemed…distracted today. Everything okay?"

"Just…a lot on my mind." He shrugged.

"Do you want to talk to me about it?"

"That kind of depends, are you still mad at me?" he asked, peeking up at me from his glasses.

"Not as mad as I was before," I said. "I mean, if you didn't notice, I was kind of wailing on you today."

The corner of Nick's lips pulled up in a small smile and for some reason I felt relief rush through me. "Trust me, I noticed." He gave me a rueful sideways glance before sobering up and turning to look at me fully. "For what it's worth, I really am sorry about what happened last night."

"Thank you for apologizing," I said. "I forgive you." I saw Nick take a small breath and release it, his posture improving slightly. I took a small breath of my own and I realized I was feeling this relief because I didn't like seeing him so down. I wanted to…comfort him, cheer him up. Without really thinking, I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "Is there anything else you want to talk to me about?"

Nick stiffened under my touch and I saw that familiar blush stain his cheeks. Despite having been annoyed with it, I almost smiled at seeing him start to act like his usual, nervous self around me.

"M-may I ask…why?" he questioned.

I dropped my hand and shifted on my feet not expecting him to ask that. He'd already told me what had partially been bothering him, I didn't think he'd turn defensive now.

Truthfully, I was prodding because I wanted to see him smiling again, I wanted to see the excited light he got in his eyes when he talked about his dream of being a magician or showed me a magic trick. But was I going to tell him that? No way!

"Well…a-as your teacher," I started slowly, my thoughts racing. "I want all my students to succeed." As I continued speaking, the words came easier and faster. "And if you're having a hard time, I should be able to offer my assistance. If you wish. If it's too personal, you don't need to tell me anything."

Nick thought about that for a moment, looking around the arena before his eyes came back to me. I saw his eyes harden, like he'd made a decision and he took in a breath, to say something, but nothing came out for a moment.

"No, nothing else is wrong," he finally said, shaking his head. His expression didn't match his words, but I decided to ignore it for now. If he didn't want to tell me, he didn't want to tell me.

As the days passed, I continued to be his partner during my swordsmanship class with him. But it was like something had changed in him, or a switch had flipped. He came in with razor-sharp focus. The harder I pushed him, the harder he pushed back, learning faster and faster, getting better at swordplay. He wasn't nearly as good as Luke, but I found myself enjoying sparring with him. The more he trained, the more I enjoyed our sparring sessions.

Even better, his usual nerves slowly devolved until they were nonexistent. I could talk and chat with him without him stuttering over his words or tripping over his own two feet because he was so nervous or wasn't paying attention. Of course, he continued showing me magic tricks, after class, during dinner, after the campfire if I went.

We were…growing close.

Which is why that Friday, during capture the flag had been so scary.

I was guarding the flag with Cressida, who was perched in a tree with her bow and arrow. I had my sword out and at the ready. So far, all we heard were shouts and sounds of battles around us, but no one approached.

I was scanning the woods to my right. We were stationed on the south side of the woods, just on the edge of the thicker trees that concealed Bunker 9. To my left, I heard a twig snap. I turned my head to look just in time to see the flick of a tail.

I looked up at Cressida on her tree branch. "Did you hear that?" I asked. Cressida looked around, eyebrows furrowed.

She shook her head as she met my eyes again. "No, I didn't—"

"There it is again!" I turned to my left fully, searching for any signs of movement. Through the darkness, I thought I saw a large body of an animal moving through the trees. "Did you see that?" I looked at my half-sister.

"I don't see or hear anything," she replied. "Are you okay—"

"I'm fine!" I snapped. "I'm going to go check it out, okay? Can you hold down the fort? I shouldn't be long."

"Um…" Cressida bit her lip.

"Call another one of our siblings. I'll be quick." Without waiting for her to answer, I took off toward the sounds because I swear, I'd heard a growl.

"It might be a trap!" Cressida called after me, but I ignored her. Maybe it was a bit rash, but it could be a monster, and that was just as bad as an opponent trying to steal our flag, because if it decided to attack at an inopportune moment, we'd lose the flag.

If I took care of it now, then I could go back and guard the flag without the worry of a monster jumping in on the action.

I was still on the edge of the two types of trees, but it seemed to get darker the further I followed whatever I'd seen. After a few moments of jogging, I slowed, sheathed my sword and let my bow spiral out from my ring, knocking an arrow.

The sounds of the game had faded and it was strangely quiet, almost like the noise around me was being muffled by something.. My footsteps barely made noise on the soft earth and dead needles, and all I could hear was my own breathing. I looked behind me, and the clearing we'd chosen for our flag had completely disappeared, taking with it what little light I had from the moon and stars.

Too late now, I was going to find this monster and dust it. If it was lurking around the edges of our perimeter for our flag, it would most likely come back if I went back, too. Merely chasing it away would do me no good.

Another snap of a twig sounded, but this time behind me and I spun around just in time to see a large, furry body move through the trees. My heart and stomach dropped. I felt my world shift and my vision blurred so violently I thought I was going to pass out.

It was a sphinx.

I wasn't afraid of sphinxes like I was afraid of hellhounds, per se. But the memories the sphinx conjured up of TJ…. Rowan and I were _still_ working through Beckendorf's death. I was a long ways away from talking and coping with TJ's death.

Laughter echoed around me, like the sphinx knew the effect its presence had on me.

I swayed and almost took a fall, just barely managing to catch myself. My breathing was coming out erratic and shaky. I could barely keep a grip on my bow and arrow, the world still seemed to be spinning.

"Oh, look at you, poor thing," the sphinx purred. I tried to determine where its voice was coming from, but I was just on the verge of a panic attack, making functioning a little hard. My hands were shaking so bad, I let my bow spiral back into a ring, not wanting to drop such an important weapon in my arsenal.

I tried to ignore the sphinx as it continued to talk, taking deep breaths and using the techniques Rowan had taught me.

_It's not my fault. He was doing his job. He knew the risks, the dangers. You're okay. Just breathe._

"How has TJ been?" the sphinx asked, invading my thoughts. "Is he enjoying his little spot of land near the water? Near his dear, sweet Willa?"

I covered my ears with my hands, tears burning my eyes, my throat constricting with bile, a black hole forming in my chest.

"It's not my fault," I whispered. "He was doing his job. He knew the risks. It's not my fault."

"Oh, honey," the sphinx laughed. "You don't _really_ think that, do you?"

I screamed, lifting my head, dropping my arms, and opening my eyes up again. "Shut up! Shut up! _Shut up!_ You don't know anything!" I spun, hearing noise behind me, but saw nothing, not even the flick of a tail. "Show yourself. Coward!"

My whole body was trembling, my chest heaving. I scanned the trees for the beast, only to come up with nothing.

I was about to unsheathe my sword, my anger stopping my swirling vision the sick feeling in my stomach, when out of nowhere Nick appeared in front of me. Before I had time to react, he crashed into me, wrapping his arms around me and spinning me around 180 degrees just as the sphinx raked its claws across his back.

Nick's arms tightened around me as the sphinx went for another swipe. His armor had protected him from the first blow, but that first blow had also weakened it. His ruined armor was no match for the sphinx's claws the second time. Nick let out a cry of pain, but didn't let go of me.

I was too frozen in shock to anything until the sphinx went in for the third strike. The sound of its claws slicing through his skin jolted me back to when I'd seen the hellhound rip open my mom. Blood spattered right into my face from the force of the blow and Nick went limp.

I had just enough of a mind to hold him up, but I was swimming in a sea of flashbacks, injuries, deaths, beginning and ending with my mom, all in the span of milliseconds. Just like that, it ended. I fell back into my body and the world snapped into such sharp focus, I thought I was hallucinating.

I only had one thought on my mind: Protect Nick.

My gaze focused back in on the sphinx who'd pulled back and by the look of it, was getting ready to pounce. I held my breath, getting a better grip on Nick, and watched its hind legs. When they tensed, I jumped to the side, taking Nick with me just as the sphinx flew past us.

I swiftly got to my feet, leaving Nick lying on the ground for now, letting my bow spiral out of my ring and knocking two arrows. When the sphinx turned to face me, tail lashing, I let my arrows fly right into its eyes. The sphinx shrieked in pain and backed away from me, but I continued to shoot at it, aiming for every joint in its legs until it could no longer move. Its screams of agony seemed to meld into every other scream because I was unrelenting.

It wasn't until I'd completely run out of arrows, did I let my bow spiral back and unsheathe my sword. Having completely immobilized the monster, it was all too easy to go up to it and lop its head clean off. I turned, sheathing my sword, before the monster had even disintegrated.

Now that the danger had passed, the cold breeze of worry blew away my anger completely.

I ran up to Nick, falling to my knees beside him. He was lying on his side, but I could see that blood was pooling where his back met the forest floor. I sat him up, gently hitting his cheek.

"Nick, wake up," I pleaded, tears burning my eyes. "Come on, Nick. Let me see your eyes." I blinked and my tears streamed down my face. My whole body was shaking and my heart was beating out of control. "Nick, please," I gasped, using one hand to shake him while the other kept his head up.

With a groan, Nick's eyelids fluttered. He suddenly stiffened, his face contorting in pain and he let out a yelp.

When he eyes came to me, he seemed confused. "Victoria," he gasped. "What—what happened? What's going on? Why…why am I in s-so much…p-pain?" He lifted his arms, around to his back, but I quickly grabbed one of his wrists.

"We need to get you to the infirmary, can you stay awake until then?" I asked.

He gave me an agonized look. "I'll try."

I nodded. "Okay." I whispered, mostly to myself. Trying to keep my breathing under control so _I_ wouldn't pass out, I carefully slung his arm around my shoulders and stood, putting my free arm around his waist to better support him. I tried not to panic when I felt the sticky wetness of his blood coat my arm.

Together, we started stumbling toward the closest edge of the woods. The darkness that'd surrounded me earlier had seemed to vanish and now I knew exactly where I was. Which was honestly a miracle, but I would take it without question, because Nick was dying and I wasn't about to let that happen.

After a few steps, Nick spoke again, "There's something you need to know." but his words were so quiet I almost didn't hear him, sending alarms off in my brain. Not just that, but those words were usually words you said to someone on your death bed and I was _not_ going to let Nick die. That wasn't an option.

"Just shut up and focus on staying alive," I growled through gritted teeth, pushing myself to go faster. Nick groaned in protest.

"No, Victoria, _listen,_ " he snapped, his voice stronger. I slowed, coming to a stop and looked over at Nick. Because of how I was holding him our faces were mere centimeters apart, our noses almost brushing. The only sound was our ragged breathing and for a moment, I was lost in his brown eyes. Then he said those dreaded three words, "I love you." before promptly passing out.

I wasn't going to let him die. _That wasn't an option!_

I threw him into a fireman's carry so I could cover more ground faster. Along the way, I whistled for my siblings, hoping they'd hear and come to me with what I needed. I wouldn't be able to keep this carry up for long. As efficient as it was, Nick was still heavier than I was, and my body was running on pure adrenaline right now. Once that ran out, I'd be shit out of luck.

Thankfully, before I'd even made it to the edge of the forest, I ran into my siblings, who'd brought a stretcher and a canteen full of nectar. I wasn't sure if the game was still going on or not, but at that point I didn't care.

I carefully laid Nick on his stomach on the stretcher and Kayla poured some nectar of his wounds to start healing them so he'd stop losing blood at such a fast rate. Nick didn't even move, which wasn't a good sign. We sprinted out of the woods, then, to the Big House's infirmary since it was closest.

I lagged behind because I'd been so angry, so focused on killing that monster that I'd exhausted myself. Not to mention my chronic pain was working up a storm. I let them go ahead of me, though, because they had a much more important matter at hand. By the time I arrived to the infirmary, I was breathing heavily and could barely hold myself up.

Chest heaving, vision blurring, I stumbled through the doorway. All I could think about was Nick—was he okay? Was he even still _alive_?—which left no concern for myself.

Will met me at the door, putting both hands on my arms, holding me up and stopping me from going any further.

"Go back to the cabin, Victoria," he instructed.

"No, I can help," I whimpered, trying to feebly push past him. "Please, let me help." I didn't realize I was crying again a harsh sob escaped my lips. "Is he okay?" I asked, breathlessly. I could barely hold myself up at this point. My hands went instinctively to grip Will's shoulders to hold myself up.

"Let us take care of this," Will insisted. "You— _need_ —to _rest_."

I ignored him, still trying to push past him. My brain was so foggy, my head felt heavy, I could barely think straight.

"I'm sorry, Victoria, I didn't want to do this." Will's tone of voice made me pause. I pulled back slightly and looked at him.

"What are you talking about—?" I started just as I felt a sharp prick in my arm. My head snapped to my left to see Lyra finish depressing a plunger to a needle and swiftly pulling the needle out of my arm. I broke away from Will, looking at them, feeling betrayed. "What was that?! What did you just—" I broke off, swaying, my vision blurring so violently my stomach rolled. Jeez, these drugs worked fast.

Will came up to me again, keeping my steady.

"It's just a sedative," my half-brother explained as I slowly sunk to the floor, my eyelids feeling heavy. "To help you relax."

I opened my mouth to ask him…something, but darkness was closing in on the edges of my vision.

"You've been really stressed lately," Will explained, his voice sounded far away. "With bad dreams, sleep deprivation, worry, and now this. You need to rest right now."

I couldn't object. I couldn't really do much of anything. The sedatives in combination with my body's exhaustion was pulling me under. I felt my body being lifted, and because of the state I was in, I felt weightless for a moment, before unconsciousness fully overtook me.

* * *

The dreams, and sleep deprivation because of that, along with the worry had been plaguing me for a while now. In fact…since Nico had regularly started showing up to camp.

Gaea had started speaking to me again. Not in her dirt-robe form, but whenever I went to sleep I'd hear her voice, whispering in my ear, which started when Nico started to come to camp more. Her voice would hiss, _Ask Nico_. And something about Percy, but I woke up disoriented and confused which didn't offer good memory. Not only that, but whenever she mentioned Percy it was like something or someone was messing with the connection. That, or she just didn't have enough energy to send me the full message.

Whatever this vague, scary, disembodied voice shit was, I started to get more and more irritated with Gaea. Not only was I losing sleep, but I was starting to wonder just what it was that she wanted me to ask Nico about. And what did it have to do with _Percy_?

I'd thought, after having banished her from my dream and yelling at her after she'd killed TJ, she would leave me alone. Apparently, though, she thought I was too invaluable to just give up on. She must've been trying a different avenue to get me to her side. It wasn't really a shock, per se, because having had Kronos try and kill you in creative ways I was prepared to handle immortal beings thinking of new and inventive alternatives to their plans when the pervious ones had failed.

Still, that didn't make it any less bothersome.

As the nights went on, though, her message became clearer: _Ask Nico about your punishment._

I wasn't sure what in Tartarus _that_ meant, and I was still unsure of Percy's involvement. Even though Gaea had stopped mentioning Percy, I had a strange feeling he was part of the message she was trying to get across to me. Anyway, why would Nico know about my punishment? Furthermore, to what ends was that going to do for me and for her, especially?

For a while, I ignored her, and just struggled through the nights. At least they weren't as taxing and emotionally heavy as my previous dreams had been. Despite my best efforts, though, her words started to get to me. Hearing that repeated over and over again, every single night was starting to have an effect on me. Not only that, but my prophetic abilities were kicking in during these…dreams. _Important._ That's all it was giving me. It seemed a bit contradictory, considering who the message was coming from. At the same time, my prophecies hadn't been wrong before.

Curiosity was slowly building inside of me. Now that I saw Nico at least once a week, I had a chance to ask him in person.

I didn't give in to temptation, yet. Gaea was trying to use me in some way, she _had_ to be. And this was just another means to her end. I had to repeat this to myself whenever I hung out with Nico to keep from asking him about it, but it worked. For now. I wasn't sure how long that was going to last, but I'd try my best to make it last for as long as possible.

* * *

The sedatives must've prevented the connection because I had no dreams at all. When I woke up again, my brain felt fuzzy, like it was still trying to get rid of the sedatives. Or I woke up before my body had fully metabolized them. Either way, I didn't like the feeling and hoped it would wear off soon. Not only that, but I was still _very_ aware of the prickles. In fact, they seemed to have gotten worse since last night.

_Last night!_

It all came rushing back to me and I bolted upright. I was in my bed, in the Apollo cabin. The world spun for a moment, I'd sat up so fast, but I stayed sitting, breathing deeply until the dizziness passed. When my vision cleared, I looked around the cabin. All my siblings were accounted for except for Will. Sunlight was shining through the window. Based on the orange tone and the slant, it was late afternoon, almost evening.

For once, I wasn't even worried about my chores this time. I needed to see if Nick was okay.

I grabbed my blankets, ready to throw them off me, but before I could even do that, Lyra came over to me and grabbed my wrist.

"Don't get up," she said gently. "You still need to rest."

"No, what I need to do is see Nick," I said, the fuzziness starting to slowly dissipate. "Is he okay? Did he…" I swallowed hard, my voice dying out. "Did he survive? Is he still…alive?"

Lyra released my wrist and gave me a gentle smile, nodding. "He's still alive. Will just went to check on him."

I let out a big breath, relaxing, looking at my bed. Tears burned my eyes, but out of relief rather than worry or grief. Blinking back my tears, I faced Lyra again.

"I'm going to see him." Without waiting for her to respond, I threw my blankets off me, forcing Lyra back as I stood from my bed. She held her hands up, hovering over my shoulders.

"Please, Victoria," she tried.

"I'm _going_ to see him—"

"At least take some pain meds," Austin sighed. "We can all tell that it's pretty bad right now."

I frowned. "Fine." Lyra sighed, too, and gave me more room. I grabbed a change of clothes and darted into the bathroom. After taking three ibuprofen, I changed, braided my hair into its diagonal Dutch braid for my siblings had taken my hair out of it, and went back out to grab my sword before heading out of the cabin. I ignored the collective groan my cabin let out as I slammed the door.

I ignored the pin-pricks as I power-walked to the Big House, on a mission. I didn't even flinch as I went through the front room, but I did close the door to the infirmary so I wouldn't have to see it.

Will was just coming toward the door as I came in. Nick was sitting up on his cot, near the far end of the infirmary. More tears flooded my eyes at the sight of him up and awake and _okay_.

"Did they even _try_ to stop you?" Will asked, coming up to me.

"Oh, they tried," I said with a crooked smile, turning my gaze back to Will. "But you really should stop wasting your energy. You should all know by now that when I make up my mind, you can't change it."

Will rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Well, the good news is that Nick is nearly fully recovered. I advised him to rest for the day, stay in the infirmary, though. Those weren't shallow cuts last night. It took both ambrosia and our healing magic to close up his wounds. He also lost a lot of blood, but after a few transfusions his color returned and his breathing became normal again. And as you can see, he's going to be fine."

I nodded, taking a deep breath, more tears filling my eyes as aching relief swept through me and I finally realized just how scared I was. "Thank you," I managed.

Will's eyes softened and he dropped his arms. "Of course."

I looked back at Nick, who was still sitting on the edge of his cot. Another emotion stirred in my chest and I was shocked at its appearance and just how strong it was. It was the last thing I would've expected to feel after everything that'd happened, yet here it was.

"Completely recovered, you say?" I asked, looking back at my brother.

Will narrowed his eyes, suspicious. "Yes."

I looked at Nick again. "Good." I pushed my way past Will before unintentionally stomping toward Nick. He looked up as I did so, his eyes going wide and the blood draining from his face upon seeing me, so my expression must've been murderous.

"Whoa, wait!" Nick exclaimed, standing and holding his hand up as he stumbled past his cot and toward the wall at the end of the room. "What are you doing?"

"Victoria!" Will called after me, worry coloring his tone.

I ignored both of them, going up to Nick and grabbing the front of his shirt with both hands.

"You bastard!" I yelled, shoving him against the wall, making sure not to do it too hard, of course.

"Um…" Nick swallowed hard, his breathing shallow as he stared back at me, confused and scared.

A tight ball of anger had formed in my chest a moment ago and was now moving its way up into my throat. My eyes flooded with even more tears and I tried my best not to let them spill. I was _angry_ , dammit! I didn't want to start crying!

"How dare you say something like that to me and then almost die!" I growled.

Nick blinked, realization replacing his confusion and fear. I watched as his lips pulled up into a small smile. "You were…you were worried about me?" _Why_ did he sound so happy at that?

I slammed him against the wall again, just enough to snap him out of whatever daze he seemed to be in. "That's not the point," I snapped.

His eyes softened, and so did his voice, "Then what is?"

As I stared back at him, I found I couldn't answer. I couldn't find the answer because I wasn't sure what the point was if it wasn't about my worry for him. I was only angry _because_ he'd nearly died.

"Do you love me, too?" Nick finally asked.

I wetted my lips. "I care about you," I told him in a quiet voice.

Nick's voice was surprisingly ragged when he spoke again, "But you don't love me."

I stared at him again, unable to find the answer.

All I knew last night was that he wasn't allowed to die. Not after risking his life like that. Not after what happened with TJ. All I knew last night was I'd been worried about him, after he'd passed out, when he didn't respond to nectar being poured straight onto his wounds. All I knew last night was I cared about him, deeply because we'd grown close since his arrival at camp.

I'd learned about _him_ , who he was, over the course of these past few months. I knew about his father who'd emigrated from China with him when he was only a few months old for better work in the States in his field of mathematics. I knew about his step-mom who was a second-generation Chinese immigrant living in New York and a professor at Columbia University. I knew about the pressure they put on him to succeed in a field he didn't even like. I knew about the worry that he was letting his parents down and not wanting to, but wanting so desperately to do what he wanted, what he truly loved.

I knew that he'd shown me what it felt like to be a kid again, before all this demigod shit. I knew that he'd performed real fake magic right before my eyes and it made me feel like I was ten again with all the wonders of the world open to me and waiting to take me on an adventure.

Before I really knew or realized what was happening, I was leaning toward him, my eyes sliding closed. And then our lips met. And, well…

At first, I thought he'd never kissed someone before. Our teeth clashed, our noses collided painfully at one point. But I realized it was actually nerves, because as soon as Nick's shock faded, his arm wound around my waist, pulling me closer to him. His free hand came up to caress my face. And then were fighting for dominance.

My hands at his chest had relaxed and rested there, but now one of them gripped the front of his shirt again. The other slid up and into his hair.

But his hair was thicker, and little courser than—

And his hand wasn't nearly as calloused as—

And his lips were much softer than—

Luke's.

_Luke._

_What was I doing?_

"Stop!" I gasped and pulled away, breaking free of Nick's grasp and putting an arm's length between us, one of my hands resting firmly on his chest, pushing him back against the wall. My free hand had come up to cover my mouth, where the touch of Nick's lips still lingered.

I felt like I'd just betrayed Luke in one of the worst ways possible. My heart was heavy with guilt, my eyes filled with tears of shame. For both my betrayal, and leading Nick on like that. It was clear to me now that I'd never be able to be with him. Not fully, anyway.

"Victoria—" Nick tried, pushing against my hand, but I applied pressure and he fell back against the wall with a huff.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm so sorry. I just can't. I just… _can't_." I shook my head, removing my hand and backing away from him. His eyes were hurt, eyebrows furrowed, mouth turned down in a frown. "I'm sorry." I blinked and tears streamed down my face.

Nick opened his mouth to try and say something else, but I turned and bolted before he could get anything out.

I couldn't go back to the cabin. Not after that. I needed to collect myself, collect my thoughts, my swirling emotions. I was dazed and confused. I felt sick, my stomach tying itself into a tight knot. My heart thumped painfully in my chest. My vision was spinning a dizzying speed.

Despite this, I ran into the woods, gasping and sobbing, trying to get as far away from camp as I could before hitting complete meltdown mode. I don't know how long I ran or how far away I actually was, but my body gave out on me. I stumble over a tree root and fell to the floor, sobbing so hard I didn't have the energy to get up, let alone move. Instead, I curled into the fetal position and let the waves crash over me hoping I'd be able to find my way back to shore.

* * *

They were half-way through dinner by the time I'd come out of it and walked out of the forest. I didn't feel up to dealing with people, even if they weren't necessarily interacting with me so I headed back to the cabin. When I entered, my siblings were anxiously waiting for me with a plate of food.

"Did you guys go to dinner?" I asked, scowling at them. My voice was hoarse, my eyes puffy and red from sobbing, but I pretended like nothing was wrong.

Reed let out an incredulous laugh. "You disappeared for several hours and you're worried about us getting enough to eat." There were tears in his eyes. I looked at all my siblings, who all had tears in their eyes and it dawned on me what'd I'd done.

"I'm sorry, I didn't—" I broke off when Kayla came forward, pulling me into a big hug.

"Gods, you are such a pain," she murmured in my ear.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled again as she pulled away and wiped tears from her eyes.

"You'd think we'd be used to this by now," she half-laughed. Then they all came forward, pulling me into a big group hug. There was a lot of tears and sniffling. I'd exhausted myself, run out of tears, but that didn't stop me from feeling guilty for vanishing like that.

When everything finally settled down, I'd taken some pain meds, drank two glasses of water, and was now sitting on the floor with the plate of food. My siblings were sitting around me, watching me carefully.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Will finally asked, breaking the tense silence.

I swallowed hard and looked up from my plate at all of them. I thought about what'd happened today and had to look away, inhaling sharply. Unwanted tears filled my eyes.

"No, I…" My voice wavered. "I can't. Not right now."

"Okay, well…we should be getting back to dinner, now," Kayla said softly. "But you know we're always here if you need, right?"

I looked back at them and tried for a smile. "Of course. Thank you."

My siblings stood and reluctantly headed out of the cabin. I was surprised they were leaving me alone, but also grateful. Especially because of how much I must've worried them this evening.

Once the door closed, I turned back to my plate, but I didn't really feel all that hungry anymore.

Will must have left at some point when I'd confronted Nick. As far as I could tell he was just as confused as to what prompted me to perform my disappearing act today. I was mostly relieved at that. At least I could think about this on my own time and for as long as I needed before deciding to tell anyone else.

I heard whooping and yelling outside, so I figured campers were now heading to the amphitheater for the campfire. Setting my plate aside, I went up to the window and peeked out, searching for any sign of Leo. Part of me hoped that he'd come invite me to chat with him while he worked on the _Argo II_ , while another part of me hoped he didn't because I didn't know if I could handle human interaction.

This changed when I saw him heading toward the Apollo cabin. I needed a distraction and what better way to distract myself than hang out with Leo and his technical jargon that made my head spin?

When he stepped onto the porch, I left my window to grab my sword and then went to open the door for him.

"Leo!" I greeted with a smile. He had his fist in the air, like he'd just been about to knock.

"Um…hey," he said back, looking at me weirdly. "Who are you and what have you done with Victoria?"

"What?" I asked, stepping out and closing the door behind me.

"I've never seen you so…" He gestured to me, making a face.

"I don't understand, is that code for something?" I waited for him to answer, but he looked deep in thought. I gestured to myself. "You just gestured to all of me."

"Peppy," Leo said, snapping his fingers and pointing at me. "I've never seen you so peppy before. It's kind of weird."

For some reason I felt insulted. "I am _not_ peppy!" I objected.

"I know! That's why I thought you'd been replaced for a moment, there."

I laughed, shoving his playfully. "How do you know I _haven't_ been replaced, huh? By robots or aliens?"

"Is that a reference to _Doctor Who_? Because if you meet him, you so gotta take me with you so I can meet him, too."

"I'll try and convince him next time." I smiled sarcastically.

Leo grinned crookedly before turning and gesturing to the green. "Shall we go?"

I smiled more genuinely and nodded eagerly. Together, we made our way back to Bunker 9.

It was nice to hang out with Leo and take my mind off what all that'd happened. To pretend it hadn't even happened at all, in fact. Everything almost felt normal and routine, but the problem was still buzzing in my head, like an annoying fly. I tried not to let it show, I didn't want Leo asking questions.

After saying goodnight and thanking him for inviting me again, I trudged back to my cabin, dreading tonight. I was afraid I was going to have another dream of Gaea's message. Even so, I was exhausted, despite having slept for most of the day. Crying could take a lot out of you, and having to put up airs around Leo had also been taxing. As soon as I my head hit the pillow, I was out.

* * *

"Do you love him?"

"No."

"You kissed him."

"I know."

"Why?"

I paused, staring out at the empty green despite the sunshine. "I got confused."

"Confused?"

"Want. Need." I paused again. "Relief."

"With love?"

I turned to face Luke, who was standing mere inches away from me, and nodded, looking up at him, meeting his gorgeous blue eyes.

Currently, his face was devoid of emotions, his eyes telling me nothing of what he felt.

"I-I'm sorry," I whispered, _needing_ to see some kind of emotion, even if it was anger or rage.

Luke didn't respond.

After a long moment of silence, he lifted his hand to caress my cheek. I leaned into it, bringing my own hand up to cover his. Without a word, Luke started to lean down. I automatically responded, stretching up onto my tip toes. Our lips brushed, but before we could kiss, I felt a sharp pain in my left side.

I froze, choking on a gasp. I opened my eyes again, pulling away from Luke and looking up at him in confusion, hurt, betrayal as he plunged the dagger deeper into my side, all the way to its hilt. I let out a small yelp, but my screams seemed to get caught in my throat.

My vision blurred, but I wasn't sure if it was because I was fading or because of the tears in my eyes. My knees buckled. As always, Luke was there to catch me, one hand still holding onto the dagger in my side. His expression was still stony, showing nothing.

I grasped the front of his shirt, my breathing staggered and ragged.

"L-Luke," I gasped as he lowered me to the floor and pulled out the dagger, hovering over me. Unexpectedly, he closed the distance between us, pressing his lips against mine roughly for a brief moment before breaking our kiss.

Instead of pulling away, he leaned in even closer, to whisper in my ear. "I'm sorry, too." Not a moment after, he plunged the blade into me again and I let out a cry of pain.

My eyes snapped open to a darkened room, but my chronic pain invaded all five of my senses. I thought it'd been bad before, when I'd sparred with Percy or Nico, when I'd faced that glowing dog-demon, but this? _This_ was what I'd read Hell felt like, from the Bible, not the Fields of Punishment or Tartarus.

I couldn't think past the pain. It was suffocating, I felt like I couldn't breathe, but I couldn't really see, either. Or hear. It was all encompassing. I felt paralyzed.

I'd had days like this before, where I had to cancel classes and my siblings did my chores because I'd been in pain. But this was like nothing I'd ever experienced.

It was like every single never ending in my body was being poked with a needle. I was in absolute _agony_. And there was nothing I could do about it.

I have only the barest recollection of that day, but what I'm about to tell you comes entirely from what my siblings told me after the fact.

I only responded in monosyllables, if at all. I didn't move. They could never tell if I'd gone to sleep, passed out, or had simply gotten lost in the pain. They checked up on me throughout the day, talked to me, held my hand. They tried to feed me, which was utterly unsuccessful considering how responsive I was to them talking to me. I can't even remember what they'd said. I don't remember feeling any of their hands in mine. Water was slightly more successful.

And then, finally, around dinner, for whatever reason, the prickles died down to almost nothing. At least, that's what it felt like, compared to what I'd just endured for most of the day.

I'd gone to sleep or passed out at some point and woke up around dinnertime. I found I could move. See and hear again, feel the sensation of the soft blanket between my fingers. I almost wept, it was such a relief.

I decided not to go to dinner. For one, I didn't think I had the energy. For two, I was ashamed to show my face suddenly at the end of the day. I was afraid my students and anyone else who'd noticed my absence would think poorly of me, that I just decided to skip my duties today. After Drew had revealed my condition to everyone at camp, I'd come to learn very quickly who believed me and who didn't. Those who were still deciding, I was wary of.

So my siblings brought dinner to me since I hadn't eaten all day.

I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to tell them about my screwed up emotions and messed up love life. I couldn't even believe I had one again, after Luke. I thought I'd never be able to love anyone else again…but, then again, maybe I didn't love Nick. Not romantically, anyway. Maybe I was mistaking a different kind of love for romantic love. I certainly cared about him. And right now, that's all I was 100% sure about.

* * *

I had to take a few moments to gather myself, my emotions, and my anxious thoughts before heading to my first class, knowing Nick was going to be there. So was Jason. I doubt he believed that I had chronic pain, so there was a chance he was going to try and attack me with that after class or subtly during class. I needed to prepare myself for that.

Because I'd taken that time, however, that meant I was a little late. Not by much, maybe like one or two minutes. When I arrived at the archery range, my students had already grabbed their bows and quivers of arrows. They were standing in a loose huddle waiting for me to arrive and give them their instructions.

When I got close enough, I stopped and nodded at them, attempting a smile. Just before I could apologize for my absence yesterday and give them their instructions, someone else spoke.

"Oh, well, _look_ who decided to show up today!"

My eyes snapped over to my left, shock and hurt rocketing through me, despite having prepared myself for any heckling I might receive. I hadn't, however, prepared myself for who had delivered the blow just now.

I frowned as my eyes locked on to hard brown eyes, like darkened topaz.

"Nick."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooo, cliff-hanger! Which, in retrospect, actually I feel kind of—but only kind of—bad about because I'm going back to college at the end of this week. Last semester of senior year! (I am appropriately _freaking the fuck out_ , you know, as you do.) Anyway, my point is that I'll probably be much busier than I am now, and so updates will slow down.
> 
> Hopefully not too terribly busy, but you know how it is. I make no promises, only hope you will be patient and stick with me ('til the end of the line).
> 
> Which is also why I'm posting this 3 days after my most recent chapter, instead of my usual 5-7 days. (Wow, I sound like those statements about sending a package or something.) It's a little treat for you guys…just ignore the cliff-hanger.
> 
> I have quite a bit of the next chapter planned out already, so we'll see how much I'm able to write and see if I can't get you the next chapter before I officially start my semester. But, again, no promises. Which is also why I'm telling you now as a fair warning.
> 
> But, man! _What_ a chapter, huh?
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	29. Achievement Unlocked: Level Ten Friend

"Would you, please, wait over there for me"—I gestured behind me, to my left—"while I instruct the rest of the class," I requested, trying to control and the shock and hurt, hoping it didn't come through in my voice.

Nick smiled sarcastically before pushing his way to the front, brushing past me, and standing where I'd asked him to. I looked at him, trying to read his expression, but he merely glared back at me, hands shoved in his pockets, and shifted on his feet like a petulant teen. To be fair, he was only twenty, he'd only just passed his teens.

I turned back to the class, forcing a smile on my face.

"Warm up for five minutes, then you can start practicing with arrows. I'll be over in just a minute to check on you." I nodded and turned to face Nick as they headed toward their designated targets. When I glanced over my shoulder to make sure they were setting up okay, I noticed Will lingering. I waved him off before turning back to Nick and giving him my full attention.

"Do we…have a problem?" I asked.

Nick shrugged, smiling without humor. "I don't know, you tell me."

I crossed my arms, shifting on my feet. "You've going to have to give me more than that. You see, this communication thing? It's a two-way street. I can't communicate competently if you I don't even know what you're mad about."

"I don't think you communicate at all," Nick muttered.

"Nick!" I dropped my arms, feeling offended, which wasn't good. I got violent when I felt attacked, something I really should worked on, but maybe because I'd been sparring with Ares kids their violent tendencies were rubbing off on me.

His sarcasm and childish joking disappeared, revealing just how angry he was. Nick stepped closer to me, lowering his voice, barring his teeth. "What did you expect? You _kissed_ me two days ago, ran off, and then what? Disappeared yesterday for the whole day? To _what_? _Avoid_ me? What kind of cowardice is that?"

I poked him in the chest. "I was _not_ being a coward. My chronic pain—"

"Oh!" Nick interrupted, scoffing and rolling his eyes. "That again. You really expect me to believe that?"

"' _That again_ '?" I repeated, feeling my trust in him drop so fast, my head was spinning. "What are you implying—?"

"I'm not _implying_ anything," he interrupted again. "It's an excuse! You're using your chronic pain as an excuse—"

"I am not! You don't know _anything_ about my condition! How dare you!" Realizing I'd raised my voice, I glanced over to the kids, making sure they hadn't noticed. Thankfully, they were still practicing. I glared at Nick, stepping closer to him. "I was in so much pain yesterday, I could barely _breathe_ , let alone _move_."

Nick had been nodding and making a face the whole time, hands on his hips, shifting around. It was clear he wasn't buying any of it, which was hurting me more than pissing me off, which pissed me off. I couldn't believe I had come to care so much for him only for him to come back around and throw it back in my face.

"It's Luke, isn't it?" he finally said, looking at me.

I jolted at the mention of Luke and my brain froze up. "What?"

"You told me to ask around camp, so I did. What they told me…wasn't great—"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't expecting it to be," I snapped, though my voice broke. Gods, I hated it. One little mention of Luke and I fell apart at the seams.

Nick shook his head, looking disgusted. "You still love him, don't you? After _everything_ he's done. After he _betrayed_ this camp."

"You weren't even here for that," I growled. "You don't know _anything_."

"He's dead, and yet here you are, still defending him." Nick gestured to me, his expression incredulous. "What did he say to you? How did he get you to love him _so_ much?"

"He didn't—" I tried, but Nick steam-rolled right over me. It was also partly due to the fact that the more we talked about Luke, the more I could feel myself unraveling. My heart was pounding in my chest so hard I thought my ribs might break. My hands were shaking and my head felt like it was filling up with cotton.

"You know, he was most likely just _using_ you—"

" _That's—not—true,_ " I snarled, my hands curling into fists, but I could feel the tears pool in my eyes.

Nick stepped back, looking at me with slightly narrowed eyes, furrowed eyebrows, his mouth slightly ajar. He seemed…confused? "Wow, he…really managed to convince you, didn't he?"

" _Don't_ say that about him—"

"I have to hand it to him, he did an incredible job." Nick shook his head, chuckling before looking back at me. "Maybe I should…summon him or something, get some tips."

"That seems very unlike you," I ground out, stock still, glaring at him. My emotions were warring with each other. One was trying to break me into a million pieces, the eternal ache in my chest. The other was barely holding me together, the rage at Nick's words, at his betrayal.

Nick shrugged. "I mean, I guess if you're going to treat me like garbage—"

My hand shot out, opening up, and I smacked him across the cheek so hard his glasses flew off—a single impulse I was unable to control. My anger had boiled over, but, and I'm ashamed to admit this, it wasn't the fact that he'd implied that I treated him like garbage. And it wasn't the fact that he'd just implied that _I_ was garbage. It was the fact that he'd implied _Luke_ had treated me like garbage, when that just wasn't true.

Luke had treated me with such kindness, respect, and love. And I missed that. I missed being unconditionally loved. I missed his touch. I missed the feel of his lips on mine, his sweet words whispered in my ear, the warmth of his body against mine, his calloused hand always there to catch me, steady me. I missed our late-night talks when we pretended we weren't demigods and we might actually have a shot at a future, a home, a family. I'd finally managed to coax out his "silly" wishes and dreams for the future. I missed hearing him laugh when he talked about becoming a white collar criminal—stealing great works of art, forging statures and expensive wines, and selling either/or on the black market, or adding the real treasures to a personal collection for us, for me.

I blinked, tears sliding down my face. I was breathing hard, my hand still hovered in the air as I glared at Nick, whose face was still turned to the side. Slowly, I lowered my hand. Nick shifted his head slightly, his eyes meeting mine. And I realized…the darkness that'd been there when he'd made that comment at the beginning of class up to now, was gone.

It reminded me of…when I managed to talk Luke down when Kelli or Kronos were speaking to him, trying to plant dark thoughts into his mind.

I realized, then, who was to blame for Nick—sweet, kind, wouldn't hurt a fly Nick—and his uncharacteristic douche-y attitude and anger toward me. I immediately regretted hitting him, but I wasn't about to apologize for it. I was angry at his words. I knew that when someone was mad, they usually said things they'd always felt, always thought. I also knew that _charmspeak_ worked better when the victim already believed what the speaker was telling them.

Piper didn't strike me as the type to do something like this. She barely even knew me. What little she knew, probably from Jason, would only make her wary of me, not vindictive. I should've known and expected Drew to retaliate. I'd just been so busy with everything else, she'd slipped my mind.

Lucky for her, she just jumped to the top of my list.

I picked up Nick's glasses, carefully folding them and handing them back to him. He was holding his cheek, looking at the ground.

"Leave." I ordered in a thick voice, pointing back toward the camp. Without a word, head down, he quickly turned and walked away from the archery range.

I spun away from him, taking a few steps toward range before having to stop. I closed my eyes, lowering my head, trying to hold it together, get everything under control.

My chronic pain had spiked because of the stress. My heart was still hammering against my chest, my hands still shaking. My rage had returned, this time directed toward Drew. I couldn't believe she'd _use_ him like that, _take advantage_ of his heart-broken state. Nick…sweet Nick.

I knew she was a terrible person, but this was low, even for her.

Someone touched my arm and I gasped, lifting my head and opening my eyes. I blinked away the tears in my eyes, sniffling, and saw Will. He was gripping his bow, worried blue eyes on me.

"What happened? Are you okay?" he asked quietly, his fingertips brushing my arm.

"I'm fine," I whispered. Will scoffed and went to say something, but I interrupted him in a stronger voice, "I'll _be_ fine." Sniffling, I wiped my tears from my face and blinked back the rest of my unshed tears.

"If you want to go—" Will tried.

"No, I'm not going to skip class again." I swallowed my emotions as best I could before straightening up and gesturing back toward the targets. "Please, go back to your target."

Frowning, looking like he wasn't going to let this go, Will turned and headed back to his target. I went to check up on the rest of my students, only glancing briefly at Jason, who glared back at me.

I went through the day in a daze. All I could think about was what Drew had done as her revenge, which only managed to make me angrier and angrier. This, in turn, didn't help my mood or my chronic pain. I was just barely able to keep it together and by the end of the day, I was ready to curl up and go to sleep, even before dinner.

As usual, that wasn't what happened. What happened was, comparatively, much worse.

I'd been taking a nap in the cabin during my free period when someone poked my shoulder. I flew up, reaching for my sword, looking around the cabin for any potential threat. What I found instead was Reed, standing a few feet away from me, like he'd poked me and then ran away. Which was smart of him, considering I probably would've thrown him to the floor had he been standing near me.

After struggling to push away the prickles so I could somewhat focus, I let go of my sword, standing and strapping it to my waist.

"Did you…need something?" I asked my half-brother, looking around the cabin. The rest of my siblings were taking naps in their own bunks. I checked my watch, then. Ten minutes until dinner.

Reed was shifting nervously, his blue eyes looking at me for a second before darting away. His short, wavy hazel hair was ruffled and disheveled like he'd been running his fingers through it. He was seventeen, but right now, he looked like a little kid who'd just broken his mom's expensive vase.

"What's wrong?" I asked, keeping my voice quiet, stepping toward him, but he jumped and practically leaped back.

His wide eyes snapped to me and his stilled. "I-I…I wanted to, um…talk to you." His eyes darted away then back to me. "Real quick." He swallowed hard. "In private."

"Okay, why don't we go into our infirmary, then, so we can talk normally," I suggested, wondering why he was so nervous and jumpy. "Are you sure you're okay? You look a little sick."

Reed nodded, but his lips were pursed and he swallowed hard again. Stiffly, he gestured to the door that led to the hall connecting our cabin to the infirmary. Giving him one more confused, suspicious look, I headed to the door. Reed stayed behind me as we headed down the corridor and into the infirmary. I walked a few feet in and then turned to face Reed as he closed the door quietly.

Finally, he faced me, chewing on his lip.

"What did you want to—?" I tried, but Reed moved to one of the cots, sat down on the edge and gestured to the cot across from him. Sighing, I went over and sat down across from him. "Okay," I said slowly. "What did you want to talk about?"

He wasn't meeting my eyes again. He had his hands clasped tightly together and he was tapping his foot. I suddenly felt bad for being annoyed with him. It was clear he was beyond nervous about whatever he wanted to talk to me about and I probably wasn't making this any easier for him.

I took a small deep breath. "Reed," I said with a little force to get his attention. Reed's eyes snapped over to me and he froze again. "You can talk to me about anything, you know." I assured.

Reed nodded, but continued to chew on his lip, resuming his fidgeting. He looked down at his shoes for a moment before taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. Finally, he lifted his head and met my eyes.

"I'm the one who told Drew about your chronic pain," he said in a surprisingly steady voice for how nervous he was.

I blinked, not quite processing what he'd just said. I shifted in my seat, swallowing, my brain working double time trying to comprehend his words.

"What?" I finally managed after a few tries. I'd wanted to ask something different with more words, but that was all my brain could manage at the moment.

"It's…it's hazy," Reed waved his hand near his head, making a face, looking away, eyebrows furrowing, like he was trying to remember something important. "But…I-I heard you talking to Will about Drew and…and something, a memory or…a-a flashback hit me and…" He lifted his head to look at me again. "I remembered. Drew—"

"Drew?" I repeated, feeling all the anger I'd tried to contain today burst in my chest like a firework.

"I'm really sorry," Reed blurted. "I didn't mean to say anything. You know I'd _never_ reveal a secret I promised to keep. Drew must've…" He blinked rapidly, frowning. "Must've used her charmspeak on me or something. And then…told me to forget about it."

For a moment, I tuned out. Not on purpose. Anger, rage, hatred—I don't know what to call it, but it tinged my vision red. Blood roared in my ears, blocking out any other noise. It felt like my body was shaking so violently, I thought for sure I'd fall apart. I could feel every single time my heart beat in my chest.

"I'm really sorry." Reed's voice shattered whatever I'd fallen into and I blinked, seeing him again. Nothing was tinged red, but something seemed to have snapped inside me. I felt strangely calm, but underneath that I could feel the rage lying in wait, wanting to be released.

"It's not your fault," I said in a steady, gentle voice. "And I don't blame you."

Reed blinked, letting out a big breath. "So…you-you're not mad at me?"

I smiled. "Not at all. Thank you for coming and telling me, though. I appreciate it."

Reed paused now looking at me with a slightly worried expression. "…are you okay?"

I stood. "Of course. Why do you ask?"

"You're smile is kind of unsettling," he told me honestly, standing as well.

"I assure you, I'm fine," I told him just as the conch horn sounded. "We should head back to the cabin." I gestured to the door. Giving me one last weird look, Reed reluctantly turned and exited the infirmary. Once we were back in the cabin, I quickly went to take some ibuprofen and then followed my siblings out to the pavilion.

As I was going up to the brazier for the food offering, by some irritating twist of Fate, Drew happened to just be finishing up giving her offering. As she passed, she paused next to me, keeping her gaze forward.

"I noticed you and Nick seemed to be…avoiding each other," she commented in a quiet voice. "You two having a spat?" Not giving me time to answer or respond, she started back to her table.

I glared at the fire before me, dumping my entire plate into the fire and, for once in my life, actually saying a prayer to my father. Well, it wasn't really a prayer, it was more of a feeling that communicated, "Protect me from the wrath I may incite from Aphrodite for what I am about to do next, please and thanks."

I turned from the brazier and tossing my plate down on my table as I passed, following Drew to hers.

"Drew," I called before she could sit down. "I have another present for you."

Out of instinct Drew turned and as she did, I threw my right fist out, hitting her cheek. Drew let out a cry of shock and pain, dropping her plate. I wasn't done, though. I threw my left fist forward, catching her in the nose enough to make it bleed, but not enough to break it. Finally, I hit her a third time with my right hand again, this time the side of her eye. _That_ was going give her a shiner, for sure. (Even with nectar/ambrosia.)

All this had happened in a matter of seconds. By the time my siblings had gotten up and to me, to hold me back, I was satisfied with my work. So their restraining hands were light and quickly slipped from my arms. Cressida and Reed passed me, carefully ushering Drew into a seat at the end of her table and started tending to her wounds. Cressida ran off, probably to grab some nectar/ambrosia from our infirmary's supply.

"Chiron!" Drew shrieked as Reed held a wad of napkins under Drew's nose.

"Victoria," I heard Chiron say from behind me in a hard voice. I turned and bowed out of habit. He must've come down from the main table at some point during my…disturbance.

"Chiron," I replied formally, meeting his disappointed, disapproving gaze.

"Would you be so kind as to explain why you attacked Drew," Chiron requested in a careful voice.

I looked at Drew over my shoulder, who glared at me. Now she was holding the wad of napkins to her nose. Cressida had returned with a baggie of ambrosia. Reed was holding a cup from the table, probably filled with water.

I turned back to Chiron and shrugged. "I was angry at her."

Chiron frowned, his eyebrows mashing together. "Victoria, however mad you may be at Drew, I don't think violence is the best response."

I looked back at Drew, again. Then Reed. He met my gaze for a moment before dropping it to the cup he was still holding. I lifted my eyes and found Nick, then. He met my gaze longer than Reed, his eyes wide with shock, his mouth slightly ajar. He jumped slightly when I met his eyes. I faced Chiron.

"She hurt, used, and manipulated two people who are…very important to me," I explained. "I didn't want her to think she could get away with it."

Chiron opened his mouth to say something, but Drew interrupted him, "I demand an apology!" I looked back at her to see she'd shot to her feet. Her nose had finally stopped bleeding, but blood stained her upper lip. Bruises were starting to form where I'd hit her. (Most likely because she hadn't taken the ambrosia Cressida had brought over. Why, I didn't know.)

"You're absolutely right, Drew, I'm sorry," I said without pause, giving her a humorless smile. Drew blinked, looking stunned that I'd given in so easily, but I continued speaking. "I'm sorry you're such a vindictive bitch."

"Victoria!" Chiron exclaimed.

Anger replaced Drew's bewilderment and she started forward, but my siblings held her back and wrestled her back into her seat. Reed held out the glass of water and tried to coax her to take a sip in a hushed, but firm tone. She forcefully grabbed the cup and took a small sip, her eyes on me the whole time, glaring daggers.

"Victoria, I think—" Chiron started, but I faced him again and spoke.

"Chiron, I think you need to see something," I said in a level voice, meeting his eyes. When Chiron didn't say anything more, I figured he was giving me a chance. I looked around the pavilion then, at the enraptured kids and teens. They hadn't seen this much drama since the three newbies had returned from their successful quest.

"Now, I know most of you absolutely hate my guts," I announced. "But suspend your disbelief for a moment, pretend we live in an alternative universe where we all get along, and humor me." I paused to let that sink in. "If you have ever felt victimized by Drew, raise your hand."

I slowly lifted my hand into the air, looking around, hoping others would follow my lead. My siblings were the first ones to raise their hands, and like dominoes falling, more people raised their hands, too. After a few seconds, nearly everyone in the pavilion had their hands raised. I was surprised to see some of the Ares kids had even raised their hands.

"Good, you can lower your hands now," I said. "One more time, except this time, I'd like you to raise your hand if you've _cried_ because of this victimization. There's no shame in admitting it." I raised my hand again, as a show of good faith, so to speak. Like last time, it took a minute for people to raise their hands. All the kids 13 or younger had their hands raised, along with some older teens. "Okay, this is good. Thank you, you can lower your hands now."

I turned to face Chiron. "I know what charmspeak can do to a person. I've seen the affects it can have on the mind. And you let Drew prance around this camp like she owns it. Her own cabin is _terrified_ of her because they're afraid she's going to make them do something they don't want to by using her charmspeak. And does she get punished for it? For _manipulating_ and _toying_ with people against their will to embarrass them?

"No, instead, she gets a slap on the wrist and a firm, 'don't do it again.' Like that's really going to work. You're little talk with her didn't work, Chiron. And Piper doesn't know how to handle her outside of their cabin." I gestured around the pavilion. "They're _just_ kids. And I know you're training us to be heroes, but they're still kids. You can't expect them to defend themselves against something they can't even see.

"You _can't_ let this go on any longer," I finished.

Chiron was silent for a long time, stroking his beard as he thought. Finally, he looked back at me.

"I will address these issues more head-on," he said slowly. "I do, however, still need to…punish you for your outburst today. I will think on this and tell you after the campfire. I would like to check on Drew, now." He nodded behind me.

"Of course." I bowed and stepped out of his way so he could clop over to Drew, who was slumped in her seat at the Aphrodite table. As soon as Chiron had passed me, whispers and murmurs broke out among the rest of the pavilion. Chiron was talking too low for me two hear, so I went back to my table and sat down, Cressida and Reed joined me a moment later.

"I can't believe you did that," Will said quietly, frowning at me disapprovingly.

I shrugged. "She's had it coming for a while now."

Will clicked his tongue. "Look, when you said you were _violent_ —"

"I meant exactly that, Will," I snapped glaring at my brother from across the table.

Will's frown deepened, but it was more of pout than a scowl. "I think the Ares cabin is rubbing off on you."

"I'd like to think my violent tendencies are all my own," I told him, earning me an eye roll, but I didn't miss his lips turn up into a small smile.

"When we talked today, was this what you were thinking about when you were had that creepy smile on your face?" Reed asked.

"No, I had no idea what I was going to do until she'd passed me at the brazier," I told him. "I mean, after you'd told me, I definitely wanted to do something, but hadn't thought what at that moment."

"Well, I think we can all agree we've been waiting for that to happen for a long time now," Cressida muttered.

While my siblings murmured their agreement, Will sighed dramatically, resting his elbow on the table and his chin his palm. "You guys are terrible. I can't believe I'm related to you."

"You should be used to this by now," Austin quipped. More murmured agreement, causing Will to stick his tongue out at us. We all laughed at his annoyance.

I skipped the campfire again, planning on finding Chiron afterward. I had just laid back in my bed, after taking some pain meds, and closed my eyes when I heard a knock at the door. I lifted my head and looked at the door, wondering who it could be. After what happened tonight, I didn't think Leo wanted anything to do with me because I'd just proved his cabin right, hadn't I?

When they knocked again, with a groan, I slid off my bed, attaching my sword to my waist and went to open the door. To my surprise, it was, in fact, Leo.

"Hey," I greeted, not hiding my surprise.

"What, did you forget that we usually hung out during the campfire?" he asked, looking suddenly nervous.

"No, I just…" I blew out a big breath. "I thought you wouldn't want to have anything to do with me after what happened tonight at dinner."

"I mean, I'll be the first one to admit, I'm not a very violent person," Leo said, shrugged. "But what I saw back there was someone with the power to stand up for those who are powerless. And that person is eternally cool in my book."

I couldn't help but smile at that. It felt good to have someone who seemed to understand my intentions, for _once_. I mean, I had my siblings, of course, and then one or two campers here, sure. But, it was different than having an actual _friend_ who didn't judge me negatively every single time I didn't do something on the straight and narrow.

"Well, don't want to keep the _Argo II_ waiting, then," I said, slipping out and closing the door behind me.

When we got into the forest, a thought occurred to me. "You know, I'm surprised you still hang out with because your friends, Jason and Piper, don't really like me. Jason _really_ doesn't like me. Do they ever talk to you about me?"

Leo laughed nervously. "Well, I mean, yeah…they don't really like you. Like, at all. So it puts a bit of a strain on my relationship with them, but _I_ like you, so there's not much they can do about that." He shrugged. "And, yeah, they've talked to me about you. A lot, actually. More than you'd think. I kind of tune them out, honestly. I've told them how I feel, so I'm hoping they'll come to accept that. I mean, you haven't murdered me and tried to hide my body yet, so as far as that goes, we're good."

I snorted. "And I thought you didn't appreciate the cliché," I commented, playfully glaring at him.

Leo laughed. "You got me there. It may be a cliché, but you have to admit, the woods are a good place to kill someone." He looked up at me with a grin and I returned his smile. Though, I noticed his eyes flicker down, to my shoulder, and his smile disappeared. He quickly averted his gaze, but I didn't miss the curiosity that'd sparked in his eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," Leo mumbled, picking up his pace. I frowned, picking up my own pace to keep up with him.

"It's clearly not nothing. What did you see?" I prompted. When Leo didn't answer, I stepped out in front of him, blocking his path. "Leo."

Leo looked up at me, swallowing hard, shadows dancing across his face as the small flame in his palm flickered.

"I just…remembered something," he mumbled, not looking away, but his eyes were wide with…fear? I felt my stomach drop. The last thing that I wanted was for someone who was becoming a friend to be scared of me.

I tried to soften my voice as I said, "And what would that be?"

"I don't think you'll like it," he told me honestly.

"Tell me anyway, you've got me curious now."

Leo paused, thinking about it. I mean, if he really didn't want to, I guess I'd let it go, but he'd been looking at me when his expression dropped. It obviously had something to do with me and I wanted to know so that, if I'd done anything to affect our friendship, I could fix it. I liked having Leo as a friend.

"I just remembered…" Leo's voice died out and he swallowed again. "When you came over during the dance, I noticed that—well, you…you'd taken off your coat and…and I saw—you…you had these scars…" His eyes lowered to his flame and I felt the blood drain from my face. "Scars on your shoulder and I wondered…" He lifted his head back up. "Look, if you don't feel comfortable telling me, you don't have to. I was just curious. They look…bad. And, I don't know, I just wondered what could…do that to a person."

I really should've expected that. I'd become so comfortable with wearing t-shirts again (honestly, they were a bit hard to spot unless you were really looking), and people at camp knew I had them, that I'd forgotten they were even really there. I mean, I didn't just _forget_ them, but since no one ever brought it up, they were just there. Now that we'd just gotten some new campers, though, of course they'd wonder. No one knew the truth behind them, aside from my siblings, though. No one asked because they knew I had PTSD and was violent.

But Leo wasn't just a camper anymore. We'd become friends over these past few months. And with a life like ours, we were bound to have stories of woe and strife. They were part and parcel of the demigod life, and almost seemed like a normal person's stories of high school or whatever. Whether or not we shared them and who we shared them with was entirely up to us. That didn't make them any less painful, though.

Without a word, still thinking about it, I stepped aside and we kept walking, this time in utter silence. I could feel Leo's regret rolling off him in waves, but I ignored it. After tonight, and his decision to _still_ hang out with me, I felt I could trust him. I needed a moment to build up the courage to tell him.

As we neared Bunker 9, I spoke again, absently reaching up to grip my left arm, pressing my fingertips into my scars.

"I was fourteen," I started in a soft voice, briefly looking over at him before looking ahead. "My mom had just made dinner. Dan was away at rehearsal for our school's play. I sat down to eat, but before my mom could even make her own plate, a…hellhound burst through the door." My voice wavered and I stopped to compose myself. We were at the edge of the clearing for the door, and we'd paused there. Leo looked up at me, but I kept my gaze ahead. He made no motion to move toward the door yet.

"My mom hid me in my room and…tried to fend it off, kill it with a small letter opener made of Celestial bronze—a gift from my father." I smiled, despite the burn of tears in my eyes. "It was made to look like Goddric Gryfindor's sword." I glanced at Leo, then, and he managed a small smile. "But, ultimately, she lost the fight. She struggled against the monster, but it…it ripped her open. I went out to help her, but…" My voice shrunk and I looked down at the forest floor. "I was…too late." I squeezed my eyes shut, tears spilling from them as my mom's cries echoed through my head.

I gripped my arm harder, remembering the agonizing pain as the hellhound's claws had ripped through half my arm and my shoulder.

"The hellhound was still there," I whispered, sniffling. "I had to get rid of it or it was going to kill me. The letter opener had fallen a few feet away from…from my mom, so I dove for it as the monster jumped at me. I managed to grab it, but the beast was on me and gave me these"—I gestured to where my scars were—"in the process of trying to prevent me from grabbing the weapon." I stopped there, feeling like I might shatter into pieces if I tried to continue.

Leo was quiet for a long time, staring at the flame in his palm. His expression seemed far away, so I waited patiently. It looked like I'd struck a nerve. I wasn't sure why, though.

Finally, "I was eight," he murmured, not looking away from his flame. I sucked in a small, sharp breath. "My mom worked at a mechanic shop and she always took me with her. I loved watching her work, learning how to use the tools, craft things." A small smile stretched across his face at the memory, but quickly faded. "It was a late night. My mom had just finished up making a drill bit design she had wanted to patent, and was going to lock up the shop." He paused, then, his jaw taught.

"We got to the break room," he spat through gritted teeth. "She told me she'd forgotten her keys. Told me to wait there and went back into the machine shop. Seconds after she'd disappeared back inside the interior and exterior door slammed shut. And I…I couldn't—I couldn't get to her." I could hear the panic building in his voice and I almost reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, but thought better of it.

"Leo, you don't have to—"

"Gaea showed up then," he whispered, silencing me. "I…I-I got scared. She was spouting nonsense—about how I'd fight her one day and that the Fates were protecting me, but not my mom. I got scared! Back then, I couldn't control my fire as well as I can now. I just…I lost control. And Gaea used those flames to…to burn the entire machine shop. With my mom…still inside."

Leo closed his hand, extinguishing the flame. We stood there, in silence, the only sound our ragged breathing as I waited for my eyes to adjust. When they did, I reached over to gently take Leo's hand. His head snapped up to look at me. I simply smiled and squeezed his hand. Slowly, he smiled, too.

We didn't talk much after that. I simply sat and watched Leo work, but neither of us minded. I felt more comfortable hanging out with him than I had before, and it was nice. It was a really nice feeling.

* * *

My punishment ended up being that I'd have to do dishes with the harpies after dinner all of next week, which was a bummer, but not anything I hadn't experienced before. It wouldn't be as awful because after that night next to the lake, keeping vigil over TJ's reincarnation, the harpies didn't seem to hate me anymore. It was strange, but I didn't mind.

The first night, I went down after everyone had gone to the campfire and put on the gloves and apron. It was silent while I worked, alongside the harpies. But every once in a while the dishes and utensils would hit each other, and maybe it was just me, but it was strangely musical. I'd glance over at them, wondering if they were banging these things together on purpose because lava had completely different properties than water did. When I did, they'd stare pointedly at what they were washing.

Soon, the bangs, and clinks, and noises became more frequent, and quicker. Eventually, I could've sworn they were playing a tune. It was familiar, something I'd heard around when I went out in the mortal world on missions. I was surprised they knew the song and that they'd managed to play the melody with the dishes. Harpies never struck me as musically inclined.

" _High School Musical_?" I asked, when I'd finally realized what tune they were playing. "Really?"

The harpy closest to me shrugged.

I turned to face them more fully and put a hand on my hips. "Are you asking me to sing for you?" I couldn't help the smug smile that was pulling at the edge of my lips.

They banged together their dishes again in the tune of "Work This Out" from the second HSM movie before looking back at me expectantly.

I sighed and turned back to my dishes. "You're lucky I know this song," I muttered. It was always hard for me to start singing. Even harder now because I didn't have the best relationship with these harpies until just a few weeks ago. Still, if I closed my eyes and remembered the time, so long ago, when I had to do the dishes with Tyson, Percy, and Annabeth, when Tyson had asked me to sing and it actually lifted my spirits, I found it a little easier to sing. It also made the task less awful.

To my surprise, that's what happened this time. When I'd finished the song, they requested another and because I'd gotten into it, I thought, "why not" and continued to sing and dance around the small underground space. It was hot and I was sweaty, but I was actually having fun…despite this being a punishment.

"We should do this more often," I commented to one of harpies as we exited the workspace. "Except, not down there, because after a while, I can't breathe." I added, turning to look at the harpy on my right.

I was so caught up with the conversation that I didn't notice the crowd that'd gathered. When I appeared, they broke out into a thunderous applause and I froze, shocked and honestly frightened. I wasn't expecting it and out of instinct, I reached for my sword. When I realized what was going on, though, I dropped my hands. Now, I was blushing and wanted to go crawl under a rock and hide. I did _not_ like attention.

In front of me were most of the nature spirits in camp—satyrs, tree nymphs, the naiads from the lake, etc.

I was bewildered that 1) they'd heard me? and 2) that they'd gathered around to listen.

Chiron and I had tried to fit private lessons into my schedule, but it was already so filled that we had trouble finding time. Now that I was seeing Rowan, I had even less time to meet with him. As things winded down in my life, after TJ's death, we just decided to leave it be for the time being. As long as I stayed away from that nursery rhyme, my singing didn't seem to have any sort of negative impact on anyone.

Seeing all these nature spirits, smiling, cheering, and applauding in front of me, though, brought it all back—my fears, my worries, the life of Orpheus that Chiron and Gaea had told me.

Then I realized that Chiron was standing behind everyone, giving me a meaningful look. His dark eyes twinkled with intrigue and wonder, but I could see the worry underneath that. I could just hear him asking the question, _What did this mean for me?_

I tried to smile and awkwardly bowed to appease their applause, hoping it might also get them to stop and leave. Finally, after a few minutes the cheering died down.

As the crowd started to disband, I said goodbye to the harpies before making my way over to Chiron. He was waiting patiently for me, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Perhaps," he started, "if we…removed one of your classes from your schedule, this would free up time for us to explore the reach and boundaries of your voice."

"Which class?" I asked, realizing how hesitant I was about giving up a class. Despite Jason trying to butt into my life because he didn't trust me, I enjoyed teaching my elementary classes. And it didn't really make sense for me to stop teaching the advanced archery class, though I supposed any of my siblings could teach it, too. And if Chiron wished it, it would be done.

"The Intermediate Swordsmanship class," Chiron decided. "We should be able to find a teacher from the advanced class who is willing and has time."

I relaxed, letting out a small breath. "Okay, I could do that."

Chiron nodded. "I will call a meeting tomorrow. Have a good night, Victoria."

I bowed, "Goodnight, Chiron." With a smile and nod, Chiron turned and trotted off.

Slowly, I started making my way back to my cabin. Although Chiron didn't seem as worried as he was when I first brought this to his attention, I felt just as scared and nervous as day one. Like a lot of Greek myths, Orpheus didn't get a happy ending. What's more is the fact that he was on the original _Argo_. It didn't make sense, though, because there were only seven half-bloods who were going to be on the ship, and I was certain the remaining two would come from the Roman camp.

So, what _did_ that mean for me? What did Gaea have planned? Was she so powerful that she could introduce me to a power like this and then leave me to my own devices, knowing that I'd end up doing her bidding? Would my fate end up like Orpheus's?

I paused, half-way through the green. _Eurydice._ I couldn't believe I hadn't put this together the first time Chiron and I had talked about this, but…was Gaea giving me a way to bring Luke back on my own? Why would she? To what end would that serve her? The only reason _she_ was offering to bring Luke back was to get me and him on her side. If I brought him back myself, did she really think that we would join her side? After everything we'd been through with Kronos?

There was no way.

At the same time, this comparison to Orpheus couldn't have been a coincidence. Not in this life.

My chronic pain surged suddenly, breaking me from my thoughts. I let out a small breath, shaking myself. I needed to get back to the cabin for some pain meds. And sleep. But I was actually grateful, because I would've probably stood there all night thinking about Gaea's plans for me if the prickles hadn't decided to get worse.

Deciding for now to lock those thoughts away in a drawer for now, I started toward my cabin again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So…not quite what I had wanted to get to you, but there are just so many things I want to write, and I'm stuck with trying not to make the chapters too long and not having this story become too long (then I remembered that Rick's books got to 50+ chapters, so I managed to get over that). So here we are. More to come ;)
> 
> It got a little _Mean Girls_ -esque there, for a moment, but whatever, you know? Besides, it is a bit of cult classic and let's be real, Drew would totally be a mean girl.
> 
> I'm glad I was able to get this chapter to you before the start of the new semester, though! I hope my writing didn't suffer because I was pushing myself a little bit, but also reminding myself to slow down and take my time. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> In any case, as always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	30. A Hundred Lifetimes

Nick and I had been avoiding each other all week since the… _incident_ of that weekend. He still came to class, but the only times I interacted with him were completely formal and, if I'm being honest, very stiff. I was still angry at him for the things he said. Although I knew that what he said wasn't entirely his fault, there was still a small part of him that'd thought those things. I think I was waiting for him to apologize. At the same time, I didn't want to have that conversation because I was scared.

I still cared about him, and to lose him this way was just…painful to think about. I did miss talking with him, though. Hanging out with him after class for a few minutes, watching him do one of his magic tricks. It brought a little happiness into my life that was full of unhappiness most of the time—like an eternal overcast day with bursts and breaks of sunlight from my siblings and what few friends I had.

It was Friday night, and the camp was participating in the usual Friday game of capture the flag. I was patrolling the outer border of where our team had positioned the flag. I hated being put in this position because I rarely saw much action. I could hear the sounds of battle around me, but the other team seemed to be avoiding me. It was frustrating because I was ready to let off steam and pent up energy from being so tense around Nick all the time.

I almost decided to leave my post—which Annabeth _would not_ be happy about at all if she found out—when I heard what sounded like a stampede heading my direction. I tensed and readied my sword when Nick appeared in my line of sight, running straight toward me. I had just enough time drop the point of my sword and register the three Ares kids chasing him before he crashed right into me, for he'd been looking behind him at the time. Not prepared for this, I stumbled back (dropping my sword), only to hit a trip wire I hadn't even noticed was there.

With a yelp, and Nick screaming, we shot up toward the tops of the trees in a Celestial bronze net. Nick panicked and started struggling and yelling, trying to get out, which only jostled us both. I think he elbowed me in the face and chest three times and jabbed me with his knees in the ribs and stomach five.

"Nick!" I yelled, trying to grab hold of his flailing limbs. "Calm—ow!—down, dammit!"

Caught up in his own panic, he didn't hear me and continued to struggle. Gritting my teeth, with a growl, I tried to snatch at least one of his wrists. I knew if I got one and managed to hold it, I'd be able to get the others. After a few more painful elbows and knees to my body, I finally managed to grab his wrist, forcing it against the net, looping my fingers through the fairly large holes and holding onto the rope. Without so many flying limbs, it was easy enough to grab his other wrist and do the same thing, while forcing my whole body forward, so that he fell back into the net.

In order to trap his legs, I hooked my feet under his ankles and pressed my knees up against the net.

Nick continued to struggle, his chest heaving, but I leaned forward, our noses practically touching.

" _Calm down_ ," I ordered. _Finally_ , Nick stopped. He froze, actually, like he finally realized what was going on and where he was. His face slowly turned bright red. I pulled back slightly, hovering over him, keeping my grip on his limbs not wanting to sustain any more injuries. In any other situation, I probably would've been blushing as bad as he was, but as it was, I was still angry with him.

I was also angry with the three Ares kids who'd stuck around to watch their handiwork.

"Clarisse!" I growled, lifting my head so I could glare at her through the net. "You're on the same team! What the fuck?"

Clarisse frowned and glared back at me. "The Demeter cabin, and frankly the whole camp, was getting tired of the week-long moping."

"I was _not_ moping," I objected.

She snorted. "You weren't, sure"—she pointed to Nick with her spear—"but _he_ was. Every time he passed the Demeter cabin, their plants withered and the grass on their roof turned yellow. Katie was finally fed up enough that she called in a favor and asked me to do something about it." Clarisse jerked her head in the direction of my team's flag. "Come on, we're getting closer."

"You can't just leave us here!" I snapped, causing her to stop and turn to face me again.

She smirked. "Look, this'll give you two time to reconcile. And we just took out one of your team's best fighters—two birds with one stone." I gaped as Clarisse took off with her siblings, disappearing quickly into the thick woods.

"Do you think…?" Nick started in a small voice, which tapered out when I turned my glare on him. He swallowed hard and remained silent, eyes as wide as a doe's.

"What?" I snapped.

Nick shifted slightly, twisting his wrists—well as much as he could—and made a pained face. "I'm starting to lose feeling in my arms. Do you think you could let go?"

"As long as you promise not to struggle anymore," I muttered.

Nick nodded. "I promise." Reluctantly, I let go of his wrists, keeping hold of the net so I wouldn't fall onto him. Nick tried to shift, sit up, probably, but this was a net. Instead, he pitched forward and I fell back. With a yelp and a cry, he fell on top of me and we smacked foreheads. It was a moment before Nick gathered his bearings and lifted himself off me.

Rubbing my forehead, I glowered up at him. "Thanks, slick."

"I-I'm sorry," he mumbled, making me feel bad for my comment. Nick started carefully and slowly started to move back, but I leapt up, pushing on his chest. He let out a surprised yelp as we ended up in the same position we were in when we'd first been caught, with me hovering over him again.

"Just hold still now, okay?" I ordered. Nick nodded mutely. It was like he'd devolved to the first time we'd met or had a class together, which was annoying in its own respect. I waited a moment to make sure he did what I told him to before planting my hand on his chest again and leaning forward, reaching my other hand through one of the holes in the net.

"Wha~at are you doing?" he asked in a strangled voice.

I pulled back so I could look at him. "I need to grab my dagger, which, I guess, got loose when you crashed into me and fell off when we were hoisted up in this net." Then I leaned closer again, until we were nose to nose. "Unless you'd like me to risk it and accidentally stab you."

Nick made a small squeaking noise at the back of his throat but said nothing. Satisfied, I turned my head so I could push my arm through the net, which also pushed me flush against Nick's body. Again, in any other situation, I would've been blushing pretty badly ( _maybe_ ), but right now, all I wanted to do was get out of this damned net.

I summoned my dagger into my hand and pulled back.

"Okay, we're going to move together," I told him. "I'll lean back while you, _slowly_ sit up. Sound good?" Nick nodded again. "Okay, on three. One…two…three…." Slowly, I shifted back as Nick shifted forward. I thought we'd managed it okay for a moment, but that quickly diminished when I pitched forward again. Although, not as much as I had been before. Instead of hovering completely over him, he was sitting upright while I was more or less straddling his lap, but was also able to sit up straight without throwing us off balance.

I sighed. "That'll have to do." I looked around the top of the net, trying to find a weak point. I shifted slightly to get more comfortable and reached up to grab a piece of the net that looked fatigued. With my dagger, which I wished was serrated now, I started sawing at the chord. The problem with this particular net was that the rope was woven from thin strands of Celestrial bronze, so it wasn't like I could just slash at it.

Nick was quiet as I worked. All the fatigued pieces seemed to be next to each other, so that made my job easier. Sure I wondered _why_ they were altogether, but didn't question it too much. I just took it as a rare, small blessing (something I rarely got, if at all, these days) and kept working, occasionally shifting to get more comfortable.

At some point, though, Nick made a choked noise at the back of his throat and I felt him tense, for I was still straddling him. I glanced down at him, wondering what was wrong. He had his head turned away to his right, his eyebrows furrowed, his jaw taught. It looked like he was wasn't breathing, or if he was, it was very shallowly. His hands were gripping the sides of the net so tight, his knuckles were white.

I didn't even pay any of this any mind. I didn't sense any injuries on him and I was dead-set on getting us out of this net, so I looked back up at what I was doing and continued my work.

Not a moment after I started again, did Nick's hand come up to my hips.

" _Please_ , stop moving," he begged.

I let out an incredulous breath, trying to ignore the warmth of his hands, and glared down at him. "What? I'm almost done. Do you want to get out of this net or not?"

"Just…just give me a moment," he pleaded, his fingertips digging into my hips as I shifted again slightly because I'd lost my balance.

"Will you kindly let go of me?" I asked in an icy voice, gripping my dagger.

Nick let out a big breath, it hissing through his teeth. "Victoria, please—"

" _What_ is _wrong_ with you?" I interrupted. Finally, Nick released my waist. I shook my head, more annoyed with him and reached up to start my sawing again. Except I had to shift slightly to get into a better position. As I did this, Nick let out a moan. I froze. Nick froze, too.

Robotically, I looked down at him, my arms still aloft. He was looking up at me with an apologetic, embarrassed expression. I moved my gaze to his crotch and I'd been with Luke enough times while fully clothed to tell when his erection was pushing against his pants.

I turned my gaze back to Nick, lowering my arms. " _Really?_ " I asked, incredulous. "Right _now_?"

"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, shrugging and spreading his hands. I rolled my eyes, clicking my tongue. For some reason that made Nick mad. He scowled and glowered at me. "Okay, you got me. I'm a hormonal, horny young adult male. I'm sorry I can't live up to the expectation of being polite and in control of my emotions and my aroused body."

"But right now?" I iterated. "Of _all_ times?"

Nick looked directly at me with a blank expression. "Look, I don't know if you know this but you are…sublime, and I—"

"Oh, so I'm just hot, is that all?" I snapped.

"No, that's not what I meant," he said quickly. "Sublime like…Romantic."

"I'm…romantic?" Now I was even more confused than I was before.

"No, 'Romantic', with a capital R." I blinked at him. "You know, like Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, uh…"

"I haven't gone to school since I was fourteen," I told him.

Nick paused and his expression change, which made me uncomfortable. Uncomfortable enough to shift, which only caused him to tense and moan again, his eyes closing.

"Fuck," he breathed.

"Nice word choice," I muttered.

"Look, when I say sublime, I mean…" Nick's face flushed red again, up to the tips of his ears. "W-when I look at you, I-I mean, you kind of terrify me, but you're also…beautiful. And not like…like physically beautiful—though if I'm being honest, you are… _gorgeous_ "—he let out a breathy laugh but broke off when he met my glare and continued on quickly—"but beautiful like-like _powerful_. A force a nature: a hurricane or a massive thunderstorm."

 _Funny you'd pick those two forces of nature,_ I thought as I stared down at him.

"And, well…" Nick blew out a big breath before mumbling, "Thinking about that, and watching you work, at the angle you're at, it…it was really turning me on."

I continued to stare at him. Nick swallowed when I'd stared at him for too long. "Um…are you gonna say anything—"

I reached up to start working on the net again, causing Nick to break off and yelp. I worked silently, not sure what to say or think about his words, honestly. To hear him talk about me like that was…flattering and weird, but also…it reminded me of Luke. It reminded me of the way Luke looked at me.

No words were ever needed in that one look, because that look always said everything. It wasn't just that I could see Luke's adoration, but I could see his love, feel it radiating off him. It was like I could read his mind, see his soul. It sounds gooey and cliché, but it was the truth.

"Um—" Nick started just as I managed to saw through the last chord. There was a _snap!_ and Nick fell out from underneath me, hitting the ground with a thud and a grunt. We weren't that high up, so he'd only bruise. I had quickly grabbed the top of the net, having been prepared for this. After a moment of watching Nick lay on the ground, I dropped down next to him on the balls of my feet, crouching to absorb the impact.

I glanced at Nick again as I sheathed my dagger and attached it to my waist again. He was staring straight up at tree tops, eyes glassy. Unexpected worry flooded through me. I fell to my knees next to him, putting a hand on his chest.

"Nick?" I asked, concern lacing my voice, as much as I tried to hide it. "Nick, are you okay?" I shifted, putting my legs underneath me and leaning over Nick, keeping a hand on his chest, trying to determine if he was injured.

His breaths were shallow, and I couldn't detect any injuries on him, so I wasn't sure what was wrong. My worry grew, but once I'd leaned over him, his eyes shifted over to meet mine, focusing in on me. A small smile pulled at his lips. Not saying a word, he reached up and caressed my cheek. I froze under his touch.

"你是天使吗?" he murmured.

"That…that's the same thing you said the first night you were here," I realized. "After you'd passed out from your asthma attack, in the infirmary."

Nick's smile grew wider and he pulled his hand away. "I was delirious, sick. When I opened my eyes, with your golden hair"—he reached up to pull my braid over my shoulder—"framing your face, like a halo: I thought you were an angel."

I sat back, feeling the hint a blush in my cheeks. Nick slowly sat up, keeping his eyes on me.

"The _first_ time I saw you, I was running from that giant beast," he continued in a quiet voice. "And you appeared from the Mist like a scene from a movie with such a fierce expression and your bow raised." He chuckled. "I'll be honest, I was scared shitless of you _and_ the monster at that moment. Then…I mean, _being_ with you as we ran from the monsters and _watching_ you strategize, leading the monster away from us.

"I think that's when my crush first appeared." Nick grinned, his eyes shining, but if I was being honest, I couldn't tell if it was tears or just because he was recalling a fond memory of his. "That's why we came back. TJ tried to get me to the van, but I was having none of it and I went back into the halls, knowing he wouldn't leave me alone. And then watching you _fight_ was…something else.

"It was a dream come true when you asked me to show you a card trick." Nick laughed, a deep belly laugh and I found myself smiling in response. "Something about magic just made my nerves disappear, I guess. I was glad, though. I was excited you seemed to like it." Nick blushed. "It gave me a way to…talk to you more." He hunched his shoulders, giving me a sheepish grin. But he thought of something and his shoulders slumped, his smile completely disappearing.

"After…after TJ died—" he started, but broke off, probably reacting to something I did, though I'm not sure what. Maybe it was my expression or the look in my eyes. Nick met my eyes for a second before looking away, at the ground in front of him. "I didn't know what to do." His voice was quiet. "I wanted to help, in some way. I hated seeing you so…sad. But I wasn't sure how to approach you. I was nervous for a whole host of reasons, one of them being my crush. When I saw Leo approach you, I got up the nerve to finally do something." Nick smiled again, looking at me through the corners of his eyes. A smile small pulled at my lips at the memory—those red pompoms.

Nick brought his legs up, a little closer to his chest and loosely wrapped his arms around his knees.

"I can't you exactly when I fell for you," he said, looking up at the trees. "It was slow. The more I hung out with you, saw you smile and laugh, the faster I fell. So…I guess that previous statement's not accurate. I fell for you that first night I'd performed that magic trick in the dining pavilion, after TJ's death—seeing the smile on your face, the joy in your eyes—and continued falling until…one day I went to class, and I saw you—my heart thumped loudly in my chest and in my ears, just once, before declaring, 'You love that woman.' and my brain couldn't find an argument against that." Nick looked at me again, shrugging with a lopsided smile on his lips.

I shifted and looked ahead, sitting like Nick was, except I was facing the opposite direction, trying to get my swirling thoughts in order. Despite this, I felt hollow, empty, numb. And it was strange because I couldn't pinpoint why. It was like my emotions had completely shut down, rejected Nick's words.

"I'm sorry," Nick said suddenly, breaking the silence. He was looking at me again. I could feel his eyes on my cheek. Finally, I looked over at him and met his eyes. "I'm sorry about what I said."

"You don't have to—" I found myself saying, but Nick interrupted me, shaking his head.

"No, I do. I take full responsibility for my words." Nick looked away, down at the ground between his legs. "I didn't realize the power of charmspeak or that it'd even work that well on me. The doubt about your chronic pain came from fleeting thoughts, wondering whether or not it could affect you so badly. That doesn't excuse what I said, but I want to explain where it came from. And then that day…w-when we kissed. I-I was confused and didn't understand what had happened.

"By that time, I'd already asked campers about the Titan War. And…and Luke. I was angry that you'd run off with no explanation and hurt at the thought that you might have just used me as some kind of…surrogate or something. I don't know, none of my thoughts were rational." Nick sighed, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, he lifted his head and looked at me. "Which doesn't excuse what I said to you, and I'm sorry."

I sucked in my own deep breath. "Thank you. For apologizing." I had to look away, then. I was reeling, everything was happening too fast—Nick's explanation, his apology.

…Luke.

Pain rocked through me and I let out a sharp breath, trying to keep it quiet, hoping Nick wouldn't notice. Even so, my body reacted to this pain how it usually did—I pulled my knees closer to my chest, wrapping my arms tightly around my legs, thinking that maybe I'd be able to hold myself together, despite the hole in my chest trying to tear me apart.

"It's…all true," I murmured, fixing my eyes on a spot in front of me. I felt the burn of tears, but did nothing to try and get rid of them.

"What?" Nick asked. I could feel his eyes on me, but I kept my eyes on the spot.

"What you heard about Luke," I elaborated. "What you heard about me. Around camp. It's all true." I closed my eyes, tears sliding down my cheeks. I swallowed hard, trying to hold it together long enough to explain my side. If he loved me that much, he'd stay and listen. Opening my eyes again, I found the same spot and continued, "People think that my love for him blinded me to the person he truly was. You know the saying: Love is blind.

"Not this love. Not our love. I knew who he was and he knew who I was because of our mutual pain that stemmed from similar pasts. I think that's why we gravitated toward each other, honestly. An understanding had formed between us that…no else knew." I hugged myself tighter as the hole grew. Tears were freely streaming down my face now. I was surprised my voice hadn't given out, though it was getting shaky.

"Luke did what he thought was best. For Thalia. For Annabeth. For all those unclaimed kids in his cabin." I paused and swallowed hard, my voice coming out in a whisper as I said, "For me." Sniffling, I reached up to quickly wipe away the tears on my face and sitting in my eyes, waiting to spill over. "I'm not so disillusioned that I think his best meant _right_. He was angry and vengeful toward the gods. Kronos fed off that, thrived on it.

"Luke…wanted to help demigods who were thrown to the side, used, or forgotten by their parents. Kronos used that against him, used it to twist him." I paused again, my voice going hoarse. "But he also made his choice." I let out a shaky breath and closed my eyes, going back to the night he died, watching as the light faded from his eyes. Opening my eyes again, I spoke, "And paid the ultimate price.

"I am…still suffering the consequences." My words came out with more venom than I intended, my hands balling into fists. Then I thought of Luke and my body slumped, relaxing. "I miss him. All I want to do is be with him. But the gods knew nothing would be more painful for me than to live without Luke and so…here I am. As punishment.

"I only hope I can atone for the damage I've done, the damage I've let happen, and when I die, I die a hero, if only so I can see him again. If he's still there, in Elysium." I lifted my gaze skyward, looking through the leaves at the stars twinkling between them before looking over at Nick. "I love him. I will never stop loving him. The reason I ran away was out of shame and guilt. I felt I had betrayed Luke. And I was ashamed I led you on.

"You are a kind, sweet man, but you deserve so much better than me. You deserve someone who will be able to love you with their whole being, unconditionally. Someone who loves you like I love Luke."

Nick blinked. "What if they don't exist," he whispered.

"Maybe they don't." I shrugged. "I don't know what to think about soul mates or other halves. But I do know this: I will never be able to love you like you deserve. And that's not fair to you."

"And what if I will never love someone like I love you? How is that fair to them?" Nick demanded.

"Then the Fates are truly cruel."

"Don't I get a say in this? A relationship is a two-ways street."

"Nick—" I tried.

"No, I want to be with you, Victoria," he interrupted, shifting to be able to face me better. "I don't care if you can't love me as much or like you do Luke."

"You should," I snapped in a cold voice. "I don't want to hurt you. You deserve _better_."

"Not being with you hurts me—"

"And what am I supposed to do if whenever I'm with you, I'm comparing you to Luke, or thinking about Luke. That's not fair to you! Or me."

Nick sagged, eyes glistening with tears. "You're right. I'm sorry." He turned his gaze downward. Without thinking, I reached out and caught a stray tear in the corner of one of his eyes with my index finger, brushing the back of hand gently against his cheek as I did. Nick's head jerked up at the contact and he inhaled sharply.

"I don't deserve your tears," I murmured, meeting his eyes.

It was silent for a long moment as we stared at each other—and I lowered my hand—before Nick shifted, moistening his lips before hesitantly reaching up and caressing my face. The warmth of his hand was comforting and I almost leaned into it.

"I'll always love you," he breathed, "Victoria." His thumb swept under my eye and caught one of _my_ stray tears. Then he started leaning forward and I froze, holding my breath.

When we were mere centimeters apart, close enough I could no longer see Nick's eyes, I finally managed to stutter, "N-Nick." reaching up to put a shaking hand on his chest. My eyes were wide open.

Nick stopped but didn't move. I could feel the warmth of his ragged breath on my lips, making them tingle.

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be," I whispered, more tears burning my eyes.

"Please," he whispered back. "Just…one last time." He waited, but I didn't answer, I didn't move my hand from his chest. After a long, silent moment, he said, "Just…just say no." and started moving forward again. I didn't stop him. And when our lips met, my eyes slid closed, tears streaming from the corners. My hand at his chest fisted, gripping the front of his shirt, pulling his body closer to me as I shifted to be at a better angle. I could feel the goodbye, the finality, in the way he kissed me, held me.

When we broke apart, we were both breathing hard. We stared at each other for a moment. Without a word, I pulled back and stood, picking up my sword and sheathing it, and making sure I had my dagger before turning and making my way back into the trees, toward our flag, leaving Nick still sitting on the forest floor.

Our little bubble had popped, sounds of the game were still echoing around us. I was surprised to hear them, to know the game was still going on, but I also knew how long these games could go on for.

* * *

We skirted around each other for a few more days, both our moods subdued. I wasn't angry anymore and Nick wasn't sad, but we weren't exactly back to our normal selves. I mean, after something like that, I wasn't sure if we'd ever be…around each other at least.

I was unsure if he wanted to remain friends or just have nothing to do with me. Seeing me every day must've been hard enough, being reminded of his unrequited love. Being friends with me would surely make things that much worse. So I interacted with him only when I needed to during our classes. I didn't want to broach the subject about still being friends, feeling kind of like a jerk for kissing him, dumping him, and then telling him about how much I still loved a dead man which was preventing me from loving him.

That changed a few days later, when Nick approached me one night after the campfire. I'd performed because Chiron had requested me to. We were…experimenting. Maybe it wasn't _completely_ ethical—shh!—but he wanted to see what brought the audience to tears, or what made them want to sing and dance along. Before this, we'd gathered a small group of nature spirits and used them as participants in our experiments during the hour I'd given up teaching. (They knew those time, of course.)

Anyway, I was slowly making my way back to the Apollo cabin with my siblings when Nick called my name, jogging up toward us.

"We'll just…go on ahead," Kayla said, smiling suggestively. I frowned and glared at all of them as they ran ahead, slowing my pace to allow Nick to catch up.

"Hey," Nick greeted, sounding breathless.

"Hey," I responded less than enthusiastic. I could feel the tension between us and I didn't like it. I was my on edge, and my instincts were kicking in, telling me to unsheathe my sword and prepare for battle.

"I, uh…wanted to give you something," Nick mumbled, rubbing the back of his head, looking nervous.

"Oh?"

Nick fumbled in his pockets for the item, finally producing a quarter with a small hole drilled near the edge, as if someone had put it on a necklace or bracelet at some point in time. He grinned at it, holding it up with his index finger and thumb, before looking at me. With his other hand, he went to grab it, wrapping his whole hand around it. As he pulled it away, it had seemingly vanished. With a flourish, Nick showed me his empty hands.

I couldn't help but smile. I actually really rather missed his magic tricks. Reaching behind my ear, he reproduced the coin. It was cheesy and definitely overdone, but I loved it all the same.

"It was my dad's first tip when he came to the States," Nick explained, flipping it into the air, catching it, and then flipping over the tops of his fingers. "When I started taking online classes, he gave it to me, for good luck." Nick stopped playing with it and reached over, grabbing my hand with his free one and putting the quarter in my open palm. "Now, I want you to have it."

"What?" I jerked my hand from his grasp, but had to close my fingers around the coin to prevent it from falling to the ground. "I couldn't." I quickly grabbed Nick's hand and pressed the coin back into his palm, firmly. "This is important to you and your family. I couldn't—"

"My dad gave it to me, which means that it's mine to keep or give," Nick said, trying to put the coin back into my hand, but I pulled my hands away, pulling them behind my back so he'd have a harder time getting at them.

I shook my head. "I'm bad news, Nick. I don't want to turn your lucky coin into something unlucky."

"All the more reason to take it," he exclaimed. "It's supposed to bring you luck. You can't turn it into something unlucky."

"That doesn't even make any sense."

Nick sighed and took a step toward me, but tripped, like his usual self, and fell into me. I yelped and quickly righted him, having to take a step back to keep my balance. I gripped his shoulders as he straightened up and frowned at him.

"I'm sorry, I'm such a klutz," he muttered, blushing, and pulling from my grasp. "You _really_ don't want it?" he asked, pouting slightly and looking at me from over the rim of his glasses, for his head was slightly lowered.

"No, I'm sorry, I don't," I sighed.

"Can I show you one more trick?"

I almost said no, but felt bad, so nodded. Nick straightened up and produced the coin again, making it disappear with a flourish of his hands. I waited.

"Aren't you going to make it reappear?" I questioned.

Nick smiled. "Check your back pocket."

I started but quickly did as he said, thinking there was no way he'd be able to do that without using real magic. But, sure enough, there it was. I examined it, trying to bend it to see if it was real, looking for the small hole. Sure enough, it was real and there was the small hole, near the edge. I glanced at Nick, trying to remember if I'd seen a small hole in the coin he'd made vanish a minute ago. I was sure I had….

"Okay, there's absolutely no way you did that without using real magic," I said, lifting my head.

Nick simply smiled and shrugged. "I swore the Styx, didn't I?"

"I _guess_." I held the coin out, but Nick lifted his hands in a "stop" gesture and shook his head.

"Like, I said, I'm giving it to you. Keep it."

"Nick—" I tried, but he started to back away.

"I insist. I _want_ you to have it."

I thought about forcibly giving it back to him somehow, but thought better of it. I looked back down at the coin in my hand and stroked its surface. How could he give away something that seemed to mean so much to both his dad and him? To me of all people? It seemed rude to refuse a gift like that, if he truly wanted me to have it. At the same time, I was afraid, with my currently luck, I'd only managed to curse this object.

"Goodnight, Victoria," Nick called. I looked up again to see he'd backed away a few more paces.

"Goodnight, Nick," I replied, gripping the coin in my hand. I'd ask Leo if he could weave some Celestial bronze together for me so I could put it on a bracelet. I didn't trust myself to keep it in my pocket and _not_ lose it.

After that night, the tension between us seemed to have diffused. There was still some awkwardness at first, but as we started interacting more, picking up our usual routine after class (some nights during dinner, against the rules, and even after the campfire when I went) it dissipated even more, until it was practically nonexistent.

Sometimes I'd catch him staring or he'd get a look in his eyes, which made me feel guilty, but it'd disappear and he'd go back to his usual self. Though, he was way less nervous than before all around. (Some part of me actually missed that.)

I was glad that we'd reconciled, and that he remained my friend.

Things seemed to be going all right. I was slowly working through my issues, with Rowan helping. Nick and I were friends again. Nico was still visiting every week (thought the dreams hadn't stopped). Leo was preparing to move the boat to the Sound soon, and continued to invite me to Bunker 9 (or on the ship when he did move it to the Sound) when I had the time. And Chiron and I were working on figuring out the limits of my voice, without accidentally hypnotizing children.

I should've known it wouldn't last. Even with Nick's lucky coin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little shorter than usual, but hey, look at that, I finally got this to you. Mainly about Nick and Tori, but there was some stuff they needed to work through. The last two sentences aren't as sinister as they sound, but we'll see what I can fit into this next chapter ;)
> 
> Sorry for the long wait. School started, as you know, and I wasn't expecting such a busy first week. Also, I may or may not know where exactly I'm going with this story anymore, and I'd like to have a general idea before we move further into the HOO timeline, which may or may not also affect the speed at which I write and post chapters (aside from my schooling). I hope you'll be patient.
> 
> To those whom I am communicating with, I will get to your messages (hopefully) sometime this weekend. I apologize if I don't. I'm neglecting homework as we speak, so I have to get back to that.
> 
> The scene in the net was partially taken from and inspired by a scene in an episode of Ouran High School Host Club. (Wonderful anime, ya'll should go find a way to watch it, or read the manga, because it's even better if only because you get to see tidbits you don't in the anime, just because of time restraints and such. Both are fantastic, though, because the anime sticks well to the manga.)
> 
> Title comes from the quote in Catching Fire, where Haymitch is talking to Katniss about Peeta, and he says, "You could live a hundred lifetimes and not deserve him, you know." I'll let you infer the rest.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments much appreciated. ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	31. A Promise, A Reminder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **TRIGGER WARNING** : internalized homophobia/homophobic comments.
> 
> This should go without saying for me, but the negativity expressed near the middle-end of this chapter in regards to homosexuality doesn't reflect my views in any way, shape, or form.

"I'm telling you, you ought to stop after season five," I said to Leo as we stood on the cherry picker, slowly moving up so we could hop back onto the deck of the ship. "It gets so awful afterward."

"I don't know how you expect me to not keep watching after a cliff-hanger like that," Leo rebuffed, shaking some part that was going to go inside of the helm of the ship. He'd just began work on that, and I was once again lost. I didn't understand how he was going to hook up a Wii console to the ship's system through what Leo told me were _like_ Bluetooth waves, but not actually Bluetooth waves. I had stopped listening after that, my mind going blank.

"That's the thing, though!" I exclaimed as the cherry picker stopped and we hopped on board. "They only added that scene in because they were renewed for another season, which they thought they weren't going to get. The last episode in season five was intended to _be_ the last episode of the show without that scene at the end. So, technically, it's the original, official ending. You can't beat that."

Leo snorted. "I don't know, I think I may watch a little of season six. Just to decide for myself." He went over the helm, and I followed him, stopping a few feet away.

"Fine, but I'm telling you, you're going to regret it. I did."

Leo pulled back from whatever he was putting together inside the helm full of wires and whirring things and gears. My head spun looking at it too long.

"Where did you find the time to watch all this anyway? Didn't you say you came to camp when you, like, fourteen?"

I blinked, momentarily stunned. By what, I'm not sure. It wasn't like I'd even come close to revealing my punishment. Still, I was dancing on the edges of it, and that was still too close. Crossing my arms and turning my nose up, I replied, "Now that I'm older, I've been able to get out more."

"Don't you worry about monsters?"

I looked back at Leo, dropping my arms, resting my hand on my sword's hilt. I raised an eyebrow. "I can take care of them easily enough."

Leo nodded once. "I believe you." He turned back to the helm and started tinkering around in it. I shuffled closer, wanting to see what he was doing, even though I understood none of it. Despite all the machinery making my head spin, if I focused on one thing at a time, like when Leo was putting something together, I usually didn't form a headache. If I tried to _understand_ what Leo was telling me, _that's_ when I got headaches.

I leaned down next to him, focusing in on whatever he was tinkering with.

"Huh." Leo pulled his hands away and gazed at the wires and gears, frowning fiercely. I tried to see what he was, but it was a lost cause.

"What?"

Leo reached forward, linking a bundle of wires in his fingers and pulling it forward slightly. "These are all in the wrong place, hooked up to the wrong things." He dropped them, pulling some tools from his toolbelt and reaching forward to grab one of the wires he'd pointed out to me. "I need to re-do all of them—" As soon as he had pulled the wire from where it was connected I was hit with a premonition—which is the best way I can explain it. It wasn't a vision, just the strong feeling that screamed _DANGER!_

"Get back!" I shouted, grabbing Leo's arm and pulling him back and putting myself between him and the helm just as the helm exploded. I vaguely remembering being knocked to the deck by the explosion and registered sharp pain in my back before I blacked out.

The sound of someone sobbing woke me up. Well, more like shrieking and crying, really.

As usual, the first thing that registered in my brain was my chronic pain. When I'd finally managed to get it under control, I then registered the soreness in my back, with little bursts of electricity were being delivered to specific points. When I managed to think past that, which took quite a lot of effort, I realized I was lying on my stomach, head turned to one side so I could breathe.

With effort, I struggled to push myself up. Neither the pin-pricks nor the sharper, more defined pricks in my back liked that. I ignored my body's protests and sat up anyway, shifting so I could sit properly on the edge of my bed.

Or, cot rather. I was in the infirmary. I think the one connected to our cabin. Whoever was crying was still crying and shouting.

Rubbing my head and squinting my eyes as they adjusted, but also trying to think past all the stimulus I was receiving, I looked around the infirmary.

A few cots away, there was what looked like a crowd gathered. From what I could tell, most of them were my siblings. It was hard to tell, my vision was a little fuzzy. The crying wasn't helping at all. Neither was both my pains.

One of my siblings glanced over their shoulder worriedly, their eyes widening when they met mine.

As they scurried over to me, I realized it was Austin.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, glancing back at the crowd. "We were trying to get her to calm down, but it's obviously not working."

"What? What's going on?" I frowned, my vision slowly clearing. I glanced back at the group, but they were so tightly surrounding the cot, I couldn't see who was actually sitting on the cot.

Austin glanced behind him again before looking back at me. "Lacy fell of the climbing wall and broke her arm. We're trying to give her a shot, to get her to sleep, to reset it so we can give her some ambrosia and put it in a cast, but she hates needles." This was punctuated by Lacy's shriek. I winced. "Whenever the needle gets too close, she cries harder. We were trying to calm her down, so she wouldn't wake you, but…" He trailed off, looking apologetic, Lacy's sobbing finishing his sentence.

"Let me try," I mumbled, standing, swaying slightly and glaring at Austin when he instinctively reached out to steady me.

"Um, distraction doesn't work, we've tried. She's too aware of needles," Austin explained, retracting his hands.

"Just let me try something," I mumbled, carefully making my way past my half-brother and toward Lacy's cot. My head was spinning, her crying making it worse, but I forced controlled breaths through my mouth.

When I'd made it over to the group, I put a gentle hand on Cressida's shoulder. She jumped and turned her head to look at me, eyes widening like Austin's had.

"You're awake!" she exclaimed, pulling away from the group, forcing me back slightly. This only turned the attention to me. Now that they weren't tightly crowding around Lacy, I could see that it wasn't just my siblings, Piper, Jason, and Leo were also part of the group (I wasn't sure why Jason and Leo were here, but was too tired to question it). Piper was sitting on the edge of Lacy's cot, a careful arm around the girl's shoulders.

Lacy's arm was swollen and bruised. I could clearly see where the bone had broken and was now trying to push its way through Lacy's skin, though it hadn't quite broken through. It definitely needed to be reset. And soon.

"I'm sorry, we tried—" Will started, over Lacy's crying, but I held up my hand.

"Austin explained," I interrupted. "May I?" I pointed to Lacy.

"Uh…" Will glanced back at Piper. She regarded me warily, but I also didn't miss the tiniest hint of coldness in her ever-changing eyes.

Finally, after a long moment, she nodded and pulled back from Lacy, whose crying had quieted. I shuffled forward, still dizzy, and sat down on the edge of the cot, carefully putting my own arm around Lacy's shoulders.

"I don't want a shot!" she sobbed. "I _hate_ needles!"

"Shh, shh, I know, I know," I cooed, brushing away the hair that was sticking to her forehead and gently wiping some of the tears from her cheeks. "How about I sing you a song, instead? Would you like that?"

Lacy sniffled, tears still streaming down her face, and nodded.

I paused and tried to think back to any information I may have picked up about Lacy, from Viola mostly.

"A little bird told me you like _High School Musical_ ," I said with a small smile. I missed Viola. "Would you like a song from that?"

Lacy nodded slowly, not meeting my eyes. I squeezed her shoulder gently, making sure not to hurt her further.

I paused again, flitting through the songs I knew of the two movies. I finally landed on "You Are the Music in Me." It was technically supposed to be a duet, but it was a nice little song that I thought Lacy would enjoy. I edited it a bit to make it a softer song, like it was at the beginning.

By the end, to my relief, Lacy's head lolled into my shoulder. Her eyes had fluttered closed, and her breathing was deep. I felt the room let out a collective sigh. Carefully, I stood and laid Lacy down on the cot. My other siblings came forward as I stepped away so they could fix her arm. I slowly shuffled away into the aisle, not wanting to sit down just yet, despite how dizzy I still was.

I blinked and Leo was at my side. "You've really got a knack for that," he commented.

"Putting people to sleep?" I deadpanned.

Leo laughed, startling me. I jumped and tensed my shoulders, the stimulus too much as Leo said, "Well, it sounds more sinister when you put it that way."

I shrugged, but managed a smile and a small laugh. "I'm the evil enchantress, remember?"

A small silence stretched between us before, "Thank you."

I blinked and looked at Leo. "Hm?"

"For…for what happened on the ship." Leo frowned, keeping his eyes on my siblings as they treated Lacy. "You got the brunt of the damage—shrapnel in your back." I reached up and around, over my shoulder to carefully prod my back, just now noticing that I was wrapped in gauze from my hips to just underneath my armpits. I had a tank top over all of it. Leo continued, "I only got a concussion and some cuts and bruises. Which the ambrosia fixed up nice and quick."

I shrugged, lowering my arms. "It was nothing."

"Do you always reply like that?"

I frowned. "Like what?"

"'Oh, I just save your life, it was nothing. I do this all the time.'" Leo said in a different voice, not necessarily trying to mimic mine. "You're making me feel a bit inadequate over here."

"I do, save lives," I mumbled. "Well, I used to, anyway."

Leo sighed. "Never mind. I'll try again when you're more cognizant."

I turned toward Leo, about to rebuff him, but my dizziness suddenly shot through the roof. Darkness started to eat at the edge of my vision.

"Leo," I half-gasped.

"What is it?"

"I hope you're stronger than you look," I slurred, just before I blacked out so fast I didn't even know if Leo had managed to catch me.

My siblings had to give me ambrosia to help heal the wounds faster rather than perform surgery that might not even save me. Thankfully, I'd been asleep for this, so I didn't notice that my chronic pain had even disappeared. Of course, there was a limit to how much I could get, so my wounds still needed to heal a bit. It was quite annoying because that meant I'd have to take it easier around camp.

Lacy's arm was reset and was now healing nicely in a cast.

Unfortunately, what happened with Leo added fuel to the fire of opposition between me and the Hephaestus cabin.

I was lying on my bed, holding my wrist with my new bracelet aloft, staring at Nick's lucky coin. Well, my lucky coin now. Leo was nice enough to fill my request to weave Celestial bronze "strings" together and make a bracelet. So far, this coin hadn't brought me any luck. Though, I suppose I had sensed the danger of the explosion. But I attributed that to the fact that I was a child of Apollo. I'd gotten premonitions like those before, it was just something children of Apollo had.

As I was saying, I was lying on bed, thinking about what'd happened when I heard yelling outside my cabin door. I shot up, my hand instinctively going to the hilt of my sword. I looked at the door cautiously, waiting for someone to bust through. When nothing happened, I slid off my bed and slowly crept up to the door, hand firmly gripping my sword, listening for anymore yelling.

"You can't _bar_ me from _my_ ship!" I recognized Leo's voice. Breathing shallowly, I dropped my hand and leaned against the door, straining my ears to listen.

"That's not what we're saying. We just don't think that it's a good idea to let _her_ on it anymore," Nyssa replied. "We don't want you to keep inviting her to join you. Look what happened!"

I was reminded of my coin and lifted my wrist, letting the coin rest in the palm of my hand. I turned, leaning against the door and stared at it, wondering when the lucky part of it would start to kick in.

"She saved my life, is what happened!" Leo snapped. "I've already told you before, _I_ decide who I hang out with and who I don't."

"She's a curse! It's too dangerous for you to be with her all the time." It was Jake's voice this time.

"Guys, nothing has even _happened_ until now. It's been _months_." Leo tried to reason. "It's much more probable that Gaea is trying to sabotage me. I'm getting close the finishing the ship and she knows it. As one of the Seven, it's important I finish and we travel to Camp Jupiter."

They were quiet after that. They must have finished their conversation quieter, or I'd tuned them out, because next thing I knew, there was a knock on the door. I looked up from the coin, dropping my hand and contemplated if I should open the door.

Rowan and I were still working through those three deaths. We'd finally moved on from Beckendorf, these past few weeks (after the dance) spent on Michael, and now we'd finally gotten to Silena. Somehow. I thought I'd never get past Beckendorf's. To be honest, I hadn't fully gotten over them, but Rowan was pleased with the progress we'd made, so we'd moved on. To be fair, I'd never be able to fully get over any of their deaths. Rowan had just helped make it easier to cope with, less blame and guilt on my part.

Taking a deep breath and getting my emotions in check, hoping my expression didn't look too much like I was suffering/heard their conversation, I opened the door.

"Hey," I greeted, hoping I didn't sound too down or too upbeat either.

Leo laughed nervously. "Thought I had the wrong cabin for a moment there." He paused, swallowing. "Shall we head?"

I nodded and started to exit my cabin, but as Leo turned I paused, feeling doubt coil in my stomach at Nyssa and Jake's words.

"You still want to," I said in a low voice, before I could really think about it, unintentionally gripping the doorknob. Leo paused, his back to me. I lowered my gaze to the porch. "You still want to hang out with me?"

Leo turned, I kept my eyes down, but when I realized he was waiting for me to look at him, I lifted my head and met his steady brown eyes.

"I do." he responded.

I took a deep breath, biting my lip. "Okay." I forced myself forward, making sure to close the door behind me before falling into step beside Leo as we headed to the Bunker 9.

* * *

Rowan set their pen down and looked at me with those brown eyes that could pull the truth right from your lips.

"Something's bothering you," they said. "Something else. Maybe we should talk about that."

I shifted in my seat, chewing on the inside of my lip. "I don't—"

"Victoria," Rowan interrupted. I swallowed hard. "Something is on your mind and it's taking space and energy that you need to work through Silena's death. I want to be able to clear it away before we move on."

I let out a slow breath and looked away, building up the courage. Rowan waited patiently. When I felt ready, I looked back at them and started to tell them about the developments with my singing. Chiron and I were making a lot of progress. The more I practiced, the more I sang, the more I could influence people. Not in a hypnotic way, but like Orpheus had—if I sang a melancholy song at the campfire, everyone was in tears. If I sang an upbeat, fun song, I could get the majority of the campers to join in and sway to the music like they were singing one of the campfire songs we usually did.

When I practiced with Chiron in the amphitheater during the period I used to teach the intermediate swordsman class, the nature spirits and campers with free time liked to come by and listen. Like they were drawn to it, they'd just show up and gather gradually until I had an audience.

It was harder to tell Rowan about my fears, about why Gaea was leading me toward this, how my situation seemed to be horrifically similar to Orpheus's. I voiced the most important question that'd been buzzing in my head ever since I started practicing with Chiron: Why was Gaea giving me the power to bring Luke back when she'd tried so hard to get me to join her, offering to bring him back herself.

"Perhaps she is hoping you _will_ try and bring him back yourself," Rowan suggested in the steady, calming voice. I didn't know how they did it, seeming so calm and collected after hearing all of this.

"I don't even know if Hades is _in_ the Underworld. The gods were called back to Olympus since, like, mid-November."

"But that's not your real concern, is it?"

I jolted. I shouldn't have been surprised. Rowan was either _very_ good at what they did or it was some kind of gift/power that had been passed down to them from their godly parent.

"No." I sighed. Rowan waited. "I wonder if they would let me. If the gods would let me or punish me for…for going against them. For finding a way around my punishment." I looked down ashamed, though I wasn't sure why.

Rowan was quiet for a time. "Things have changed since Orpheus went to the Underworld for Eurydice," they finally said. "From what you've told me, I don't think the gods would be as forgiving toward you."

"Yeah, I was afraid you were going to say that," I muttered, looking out the one window in this small room.

"Do you wish to bring him back?" Rowan prompted, bringing my attention back to them. I met their gaze for a long moment before looking down again.

"I don't know." I mumbled, closing my eyes. "I think…I think I wish to _be_ with him, but that doesn't necessarily mean I wish to bring him back. I'm more afraid…" My voice shrunk. "Afraid that I am going to follow the same path as Orpheus had. I'm afraid I don't have a _choice_."

"You are not Orpheus, you do not have to follow his path."

I looked up again, not realizing tears had filled my eyes until one escaped and slid down my cheek. I quickly reached up to wipe it away, blinking the rest away.

"That's not really for me to decide, is it? The Fates control everything, don't they?" I couldn't hide the bitterness in my voice.

"I wouldn't say that," Rowan replied. My gaze shot over to them in question, but also wonder. They sounded…amused. "The way I see it, your Fate is Point A to Point B. The path you take to get there, however, is up to you. I imagine the Fates like to have more fun than they admit and weave as many paths as universally possible for any one person.

"I don't claim to know what Gaea may be planning for you, what your Point B is, but the path you take to get there is completely your choice. Even if there are a limited number of paths. Following in the footsteps of Orpheus seems to be one. But I am sure there is at least one other."

I looked at Rowan, shocked at the turn of events. I was also feeling something else, like I was seeing them in a new light. It's hard to explain, though, what I felt during that moment.

And, of course, I had to go and ruin it by being a sarcastic shit, "You could've become a Greek philospher with those words."

Rowan laughed good-naturedly. "Yes, but my true calling was helping people. I guess you could say it runs in the family."

* * *

As the first of June neared, the more excited and nervous I became. June 1 was the start of the summer season at camp, so a flood of campers, new and old, would be coming in. I, admittedly, liked it when camp was buzzing with life, I could get lost in it easier. But that wasn't the real reason I was so anxious. June 1 also meant Viola would return. I was excited to see her, to hear how she'd been, but I was also scared something would happen on her trip here, knowing my luck and her association with me.

I'd tried to convince Chiron to let me go pick her up, but he told me that Viola's mom would be dropping her off and that was that. He wasn't going to go against her mom's wishes. And I understood that. That didn't make me worry any less. I was afraid Gaea would try to pull another stunt and send monsters after Viola. Of course, if Gaea really was trying to recruit me, killing Viola wasn't going to win her any favors, and if she was as smart as I thought she was, she wouldn't even think about trying it. Still, like I said, my luck was not something to count on these days.

"Will you _please_ stop pacing," Will groaned. I stopped momentarily to glare at him before continuing my pacing. My siblings and I were waiting atop Half-Blood Hill for Viola. Her mom was driving her over today. My nerves were the through the roof.

Over by Thalia's tree, Peleus snorted shifting so he could stretch his neck out and nudge me with his snout.

"You're one to talk," I muttered. "I know you're just as worried about her as I am." Peleus snorted again, blowing smoke before pulling back to wrap around the tree again, grumbling. I couldn't help but smile at that just as Will nudged me and pointed to one of the cars that'd just pulled up. (Throughout the week, we got a lot of traffic with incoming campers.) I looked, feeling my heart beat in my chest as fast as a hummingbird's, and let out a sigh of relief when I saw Viola get out of the car. She took a few minutes to say goodbye to her mom before coming up the hill.

We all waved when she spotted us. She grinned and started running up the hill with the enthusiasm and brightness I so missed. When she got to the top, she turned to wave at her mom once more, who had gotten back into her car and had been idling. With one last wave, the car drove off.

Viola turned to face us with a toothy grin. My siblings surrounded her and hugs were exchanged. I held back, gathering my emotions, not having expected them to be so strong. Tears burned my eyes and I was so relieved that she was okay my knees felt weak.

When the rest of my siblings had pulled away, I smiled at Viola before kneeling and opening my arms. She ran to me, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck.

"I missed you, sweetie," I managed, trying to blink back my tears, swallow the bile in my throat.

"I missed you, too." she murmured, hugging me tighter.

When we pulled back and I kept my hands on her upper forearms.

"You've grown," I commented with a laugh. "And I love your hair, by the way." I gently pulled her hair that'd been done in a braid that looked eerily similar to mine over her shoulder. "You have good taste." I winked.

Viola giggled as I stood, taking one of her hands.

"Why don't we get you unpacked, huh?" I suggested.

"Okay!"

Our cabin started down the hill, toward the Apollo cabin.

"You'll have to tell me _all_ about your year," I said as we walked. "I want to hear everything."

Viola snorted. "School sucks, I don't know why you'd want to hear about _that_. Oh! That reminds me, though, have you still been singing?"

I smiled. "I have, actually. You'd be so proud. Sometimes I even sing when people don't ask me to."

Viola's eyes brightened and her grip tightened on my hand. "Will you sing tonight, then?"

"Of course—"

Viola gasped and reached for my other hand, her eyes going wide. We slowed our walk as she examined my bracelet. "I like your bracelet. Is it a gift?" She looked up at me. "Why is there a quarter attached to it?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but Kayla answered for me, "Her boyfriend gave it to her." in a slightly scandalized tone.

Viola looked back at me, questions in her eyes. I shot Kayla a glare and generalized it to the rest of my siblings who were trying not to bust out laughing.

"You have a boyfriend? I wanna meet him!" Viola exclaimed, gripping my hand again.

"No," I corrected gently, kneeling. "No, we're not…not going out—not dating. We're just _friends_." I shot my siblings another glare.

"I don't know, my Mommy talks about one her 'friends' too, but I see them sneak kisses when they think I'm not looking _all_ the time." Viola commented so matter-of-factly, I was stunned. This caused the dam to break. The rest of my siblings guffawed. Viola, unfazed and seemingly oblivious to what was going on, continued walking like nothing had happened, releasing my hand. Just as well, too, because I was too frozen to follow her.

"I think it's great," Viola called a few feet away. She'd turned to face the rest of us. "She seemed awfully torn up about Apollo leaving for a long time, so I'm glad to see her moving on." She turned again, and continued to the cabin. I slowly stood, watching her. My siblings got over their laughing spell and came to stand around me, though some of them were still sniggering.

"You guys are awful," I muttered.

"It's what we do," Austin sighed, before following Viola. The rest of my siblings joined him. I paused a moment, narrowing my eyes at their backs, before continuing on as well.

* * *

As we slowly moved through June, Nico started visiting camp more frequently. Sometimes it was every other day. Some weeks it was every few days. Much to the kids in my elementary swordsmanship class's (and, especially, Will's) enjoyment. Will was still trying to work through his nervousness just being around Nico, but was slowly getting to the point of being able to talk to him without blushing or stuttering too much.

I think Will may have even talked to Nick several times about how to talk to a crush, but I couldn't be sure. I don't think Will really wanted me knowing he was going to Nick for relationship advice. I was a bit put out, I'm not going to lie, that Will would go to Nick, but it made sense for how much Will acted like Nick around Nico when Nick was around me when he first got here.

When Nico dropped by when I had free time we often hung out on the porch of the Big House. Will would "drop" by every time to chat with us, acting like it was a total surprise he'd found us (as if Nico didn't visit camp often and almost routinely). Thankfully for Will, Nico seemed to pretty dense about it.

One day, Nico showed up right before lunch. We were standing on the porch of the Apollo cabin, and I was in the midst of trying to convince him to come to lunch when my siblings began to exit to go the dining pavilion. I grabbed Will's arm and pulled him next to me, sensing an opportunity.

"What do you think, Will," I started. "Nico should totally join us for lunch today, right?"

Will froze and blushed when he realized who I was talking to and said nothing. Nico looked back and forth between us, giving us a strange look. Smiling, I jabbed Will in the ribs and he jumped like I'd shocked him, exclaiming, "I could write you a doctor's note!"

We'd discussed this before. When Will was fretting about how to talk to Nico, the topic of him coming to lunch or dinner or breakfast came up pretty often. I'd come up with different scenarios that might work so that Chiron would allow Nico to sit at the Apollo table, and we'd finally settled on this one.

Nico gave my brother a look. "Um, what?"

"S-so you can-can sit at the, uh…Apollo table," Will stuttered, shifting on his feet.

"But you're not a doctor," Nico deadpanned.

Will crossed his arms, blushing even redder, as he looked away, turning his nose up. "I could be considered one here."

Nico looked at Will with an incredulous expression, one that said, "Is he for real?" before snorting and rolling his eyes, but I didn't miss when the corner of his lips pulled up ever so slightly.

"Whatever," he finally said. "As long as it works, I guess."

"Great! I'll got write the note, you guys can walk to the pavilion." I shoved Will toward Nico and went into the cabin before either of them could respond. I grabbed scrap piece of paper and a pen, quickly scribbling a note for Chiron. (I also took the time to take some ibuprofen.) I was happy to see that Nico and Will had headed to lunch by the time I exited the cabin. I strolled over to the pavilion, but was surprised to find that Chiron wasn't at the head table.

I slid in next to Lyra.

"Hey, do you know why Chiron's not here?" I asked, looking around to see if anyone else was reacting. Nothing seemed to be too out of the ordinary, though. I didn't sense any tenseness or anxiety. Everyone was eating and chattering away like any other day.

Lyra glanced up at the head table and blinked, like she was just now realizing he wasn't there.

"Nope." She shrugged and went back to the conversation I'd briefly taken her from.

I frowned, setting the note down on the table, tapping it with my finger. I glanced over at Will and Nico, who seemed to be getting along. Will was still blushing, but he seemed to be holding his own all right. I turned my attention back to the head table, wondering if something was wrong. I hoped not. Things seemed to actually be going well (knock on wood).

I was just about to grab something to nibble on when I heard the familiar clop of hooves on the marble floor. I looked and straightened up. Chiron approached me, not even pausing. I stood and bowed.

"What's wrong?" I asked immediately, reading the look on our activity director's face.

"Alton found another demigod and has asked for help."

I nodded. "I'm on it."

"Good, I will be on the porch of the Big House with the keys to the van." With that, Chiron galloped off. I headed off, back to the Apollo cabin, putting my hair up into a milkmaid braid. I grabbed the quiver of arrows, hanging from my bed post and dashed out again, running to the Big House.

The rescue was pretty routine, actually. Not any monster I couldn't handle. To be honest, when we'd made it past the border with just some scrapes and bruises, and the van completely intact, I thought Nick's coin might actually be working. That had to have one of the simplest rescue missions I'd ever gone on. We actually arrived just before lunch ended. Just on time.

I went to the pavilion to grab a bagel, noticing that Will and Nico had disappeared. I wondered about it, but didn't really question it. I also had to prepare for the swordsmanship class. I hung up my quiver, now a few arrows short, and was munching on my bagel when the door banged open.

I jumped, holding my bagel in my mouth so I could grab my sword, and looked over in time to see that it was Will. He rushed passed me, not even taking time to close the front door, and went into the bathroom, slamming that door. I took my bagel from my mouth and went to the door. It was locked.

"Will?" I asked, worry filling my every pore, dropping the bagel. "Will, are you okay?" I slammed my palm against the door. "Will, open the door. Are you okay? Will?" A sudden wave of guilt and shame washed over me as my heart slowly migrated into my throat and my worry increased. It wasn't great, being on the other side of the door. "Will, please, tell me what's going on? Are you _okay_?"

"I'm fine," Will's voice came, but it wavered and broke. Was he…crying?

"Will, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Nothing _happened!_ Just go away!"

" _Will_ —" I growled.

"It was Nico, okay!"

"What—" I tried, but my siblings entered the cabin, chattering loudly and laughing. One of them asked why the door was open as Reed came up to me.

"Hey, you coming to the activity?" he asked.

"I would hope so, you are teacher," Cressida added.

Viola came up to me, tugging on the hem of my t-shirt. "What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

The rest of my siblings quieted down, realizing something was up. "Will's locked himself in the bathroom. I think…I think he's crying. Do you guys know where he and Nico went off to during lunch?"

They all exchanged looks.

"No, uh, I saw them go off during the middle of lunch, but I didn't see where they went," Kayla answered.

"Oh, yeah, they were chatting. Looked just fine," Austin added.

I glanced back at the bathroom door, chewing on my lip before looking at my watch. I was running out of time and really fast. The kids would be wondering where I was soon and I didn't want them to worry. I also wondered if Nico would show up after whatever happened with Will.

I grabbed Reed's arm. "Reed, come with me. You guys, stay here, with Will. Make sure he's okay, see if you can't coax him out of the bathroom. I'm dismissing you from class today." I turned to the door. "Will," I called. "I'm going to talk to Nico. I'll be back, soon, okay?" I started to the front door, Reed's wrist in my grasp. "Come on."

"Why don't I get a pass?" Reed objected as I dragged him toward the still-open door.

"I need you to teach the class if Nico shows up, so I can talk to him," I explained, pulling the door closed, keeping a tight grip on his arm.

"But I'm not—"

"You'll do fine. Just…do what I'd do."

I continued to pull him all the way to the arena. I tried to act normal, and apologized for being a few minutes late, but I all I could think about was what could've happened to make Will cry and lock himself in the bathroom. Had it been something Nico said to him? It had to be, there wasn't much other explanation. But…how could Nico have been so mean, so hurtful?

So I was distracted and everyone could tell. I kept looking at the entrance, losing where I was in my sentences, forgetting what I was saying altogether and having to start over. When I was trying to salvage one of my lost sentences, I glanced at the entrance again and, _finally_ , there was Nico. He had shown, but he was cautious, hiding just outside the entrance.

"Reed," I said, nodding at him before going over the entrance. Nico quickly pulled back. "Nico, wait! I just want to talk!" I exclaimed, shifting into a sprint, afraid he'd shadow travel away. I exited and quickly scanned the surrounding area. To my left, a few feet away, Nico had paused to look back at me. His eyes looked wild and scared. He was standing right next to the shadow of a tree.

"Wait!" I exclaimed as he stepped forward, practically throwing myself at him. By some miracle, I actually managed to grab onto his jacket sleeve. However, that didn't _stop_ him from shadow traveling, it only took me with him.

Shadow travel was a weird experience, and a terrifying one, since I wasn't prepared at all. It felt like I was going through a wind tunnel, but the wind felt soft and rather than blowing against my chest, it felt like my breath was being stolen right out of my lungs. It was dark and my body felt weightless. I didn't have any sense of where I was. I could barely feel Nico's sleeve in my hand, but I gripped it like my life depended on it, and it probably did.

I felt a hand grab onto my lower forearm tightly as we continued to travel, before stumbling onto solid ground. I gasped, my chest heaving as I caught my breath, holding onto whoever was holding my arm.

Before I could gather my bearings, Nico pulled me some direction, I wasn't sure, I was still recuperating.

"You can't be here," he whispered, his voice so full of panic and fear, I finally looked at him, blinking away the blurriness at the edges of my vision.

"What?" I half-gasped.

Nico looked back with wide, stricken eyes, his grip on my arm tightening. "You can't be here. I have to take you back—"

"What are you talking about?" I pulled my arm from his grip. "Where is here?" I looked around, first, at what was right in front of me, which was a black crypt, built into the side of a hill. The architecture and the black marble reminded me of the Hades cabin back at camp, or…on Mount Orthrys, the black palace of the titans. Well, former palace, anyway.

Then I turned, and froze, bewildered and awestruck. My brain could barely comprehend what stretched in the valley between hills that looked too familiar for comfort. It was like a whole city. No, not even that. More than a city, a whole world compacted into this small place.

To my right was a lake that exited out into a river, which stretched all the way around this small world, past the buildings farthest from me. Rectangular-looking. It was too far away to determine any details about those buildings. A memory from the history class I had to take at camp stirred, but it flitted away when I tried to grasp at it.

To the right of those buildings, was a large field that looked like the surface of the moon: littered with holes and craters. Currently, it looked like something was being built. I wasn't sure what, though.

Finally, to my immediate right was a city within this little world surrounded by walls that were interspersed with entrances. The city teemed with life, with people and shops and stores. At the far right side looked to be an…aqueduct? I squinted and tried to comprehend what I was seeing.

"Is that the Coliseum?" I asked in a breathless whisper. "No, that's wrong. The Coliseum is in Rome—" I broke off, my blood running cold. Rome. Jason was a _Roman_ demigod from a _Roman_ camp. Slowly, I turned to face Nico. He looked paler than usual and his throat went when I met his worried eyes.

"We need to leave," he said before I could ask what he knew was coming. "You can't be here—"

"How long have you known?" I asked.

"Victoria, please, we need to leave—" Nico stepped toward me, but I stepped back, avoiding his outstretched hand.

"Don't you dare," I hissed. I was about to ask him my question again when I remembered the whole reason I had even chased him down and switched gears. "What did you say to my brother?"

Nico blinked, confused. "What?"

"Will," I elaborated, my hands balling into fists. "He's currently crying his eyes out, locked in the Apollo cabin's bathroom and I want to know why. I know you were involved. You were the last person to be seen with him and he told me himself that you'd done something."

I didn't think he could look more scared than he was, but whatever I'd said seemed to have done the trick.

"Can we talk about it somewhere else?" he begged after taking a moment to compose himself. I could still see his thoughts swirling behind his eyes, though.

"No way, you tell me what you said to him," I demanded.

"Victoria—"

"Dammit, Nico!" I let my anger and worry get the best of me. It was bad and probably dangerous, and I am _not_ proud of it, but I stepped toward the boy and grabbed the front of his jacket. "Tell me what happened!"

"Do we have a problem here?" A new voice asked. Female. Cold. But also young, probably about Nico's age, I'd wager.

I glanced over to my right briefly and took in two figures, but didn't fully comprehend what I was seeing until I'd looked back at Nico. I gasped, turning my head fully to look again, to confirm that one of the figures I'd seen had jet-black hair, sea-green eyes, and an orange Camp Half-Blood tee.

"P—" I started, staring at him and letting go of Nico's jacket, but was cut off when Nico grabbed my wrists and pulled me away from the boy and the girl he was with—a Black girl, with long, curly cinnamon brown hair and golden eyes. Her hand was on her hilt. I was correct in assuming she was about Nico's age. She was glaring at me with eyes like solid gold. Clearly protective of Nico, but why?

I stumbled as Nico continued to pull me away from the two, my mind racing. What was _he_ doing here? At Camp Jupiter—

I stopped in my tracks. Nico continued to try and pull me, but I resisted.

 _Of course!_ How could I have forgotten? An exchange. Jason had been exchanged for _Percy_. I glanced over my shoulder at Percy. He looked a little worse for wear. And his t-shirt was so faded you couldn't even make out the CHB logo. Frowning, I faced front again. Nico was still pulling on my arm, and saying something now, but I still wasn't listening. Where had he been all these months then? It appeared he had only just arrived to this camp.

"Tori," Nico said in a low voice, breaking me from my thoughts. I glared at him, but he met my eyes evenly. "Let me explain."

"You don't need to." I said, waving my hand flippantly.

Nico blinked. "I don't?"

"I already figured it out."

"You did?"

"The exchange," I said shrugging. "I probably don't want to know more than that, right now. Though, I wonder where he's been all these months…besides, that's not even why I followed you. I want you to tell me about what happened between you and Will."

Nico looked away, scowling. "You're persistent."

I pulled my arm from Nico's grip, causing him to look at me again.

"You really hurt him, Nico," I told him honestly. "I want to know why. I'm sorry I got violent a minute ago. It was just…too much at once. I promise I won't do that again. I just want to know what happened."

Nico glanced behind me, presumably at the girl and Percy. "I should take you back to camp first," he muttered. "Though, judging by the look Hazel is giving, I don't know if we'd make it." Nico paused, thinking about his options. "I should probably go appease her anger." He sighed. "She'll probably want to talk to you. I don't think she saw the logo on your t-shirt—"

"Are you joking?" I interrupted in a quiet voice. "I can't go back over there. Percy knows I know him. I can't just lie to his face."

"I'm sure it's fine."

"He's more observant that you give him credit for," I warned. "I thought you'd know this by now."

Nico tensed, his eyes going wide. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I just meant you've spent time with him. Surely you would've picked up on some of his traits by now."

Nico relaxed and let out a small breath. "Oh. Okay. Yeah. Well…I mean, do you think he'll make a scene?"

"He's just lost all his memories and then comes to a strange camp only to find someone who knows him? Yeah, he's going to make a scene."

Nico pursed his lips. "Maybe I can try and shadow travel us away before Hazel can catch me and then come back and try to do damage control."

"As long as you promise you'll come back to our camp and tell me what happened between you and Will."

The younger boy didn't like that, but eventually his expression settled on resignation. "Okay."

"Swear on the Styx?"

"…swear on the Styx."

I turned to face Nico more fully, making sure not to reveal my t-shirt and held out my hand. Nico gripped my lower forearm and I took hold of his. Before he could travel us away, however, the girl, Hazel, yelled, "Hold it, Nico di Angelo! Don't you _dare_ shadow travel away. I need to speak with you."

The boy in question froze. "I was afraid of this."

"You can't just go now?" I whispered, still gripping his arm.

"She's coming over," he responded through unmoving lips, letting go of my arm and turning toward Hazel. I glanced briefly in that direction to see Percy was following behind her, but his piercing green eyes were on me. I could see the questions swirling in them.

"You shirt!" Nico hissed. I turned away from them, looking down at the CHB logo. With Percy only just arriving, I had a feeling they didn't know about the Greek camp, and it wasn't time to reveal that information yet. Without much other option, I quickly took it off, turned it inside out, and put it back on.

When I turned to face Hazel and Percy, everyone was blushing except for me. (Like I said, working as basically a doctor at camp, I'd seen a lot of naked bodies. I mean, I was wearing a bra, so they didn't have a huge reason to be blushing, I thought.)

"Um…" Hazel stuttered, blinking, looking at me stunned and confused. Her eyes slowly shifted to Nico and cleared of their confusion. Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips turned down into a small frown. "Can I talk to you? In private?"

Nico and I exchanged a look before he said, "Sure, Hazel." They both went off, closer to the crypt. I turned toward Percy.

"You have questions," I said, just wanting to get it over at this point.

"You know me," he stated in a hard voice.

"Yes."

"I don't even know me," he said in an anguished voice. "Please, if there's anything you can tell me…"

I shook my head, feeling helpless. "I'm sorry, I can't…I don't think it would be a good idea."

"Why not?" he snapped.

"What's happening is…important. I can tell you that you will get your memories back."

Percy clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Losing my memories was important, then?" I flinched at how bitter he sounded and was suddenly reminded of Luke. "How am I even supposed to know that what you're telling me is true? How can you be so sure I'll get my memories back?"

"Would it help if I told you I'm a child of Apollo?" I asked, swallowing the bile in my throat. Percy was around Luke's age when he'd first started hating the gods so much.

"The god of prophecies?"

"And other things, but, yeah."

Percy looked away broodingly for a long moment before those green eyes were back on me with such desperation, I almost took a step back. "You're sure you can't tell me…anything? Anything at all?"

I was about to tell him I couldn't interfere, but with a chill, realized that's what a god would say. The Ancient Laws and all that shit. Then I was angry. I was angry at myself for even thinking like that and angry at the gods for putting Percy into this position. Sixteen, still just a child, and yet here he was with wiped memories, thrown into an entirely new camp that wasn't even supposed to exist to us until just recently.

I was still reluctant to tell him too much, afraid it might jog his memory. It wasn't because I didn't want him to gain his memory back, but I was worried if he knew too much, it might end up getting him killed before he had a chance to befriend the demigods here.

"Is there anything you remember?" I asked softly.

Instead of looking hopeful, Percy's eyes turned cautious and wary and… _scared_. I looked at him, trying to determine why he'd had such a strange reaction. I tried to put myself into his shoes. If someone had erased all my memories, what would be something I'd remember, no matter how hard they tried or the strength of magic used?

The answer came almost instantly.

_Luke._

"It's a girl, isn't it?" I guessed, focusing back in on Percy, who blinked, shocked before becoming wary again.

"I…I-I'm afraid if I…talk about it out loud, that memory will disappear, too," he admitted in a small voice, looking away. His hands fisted at his sides.

"Annabeth," I said. Percy jerked his head up, to look at me. "She's real." I paused, trying to decide if I telling him what I wanted to would hurt him more or give him hope.

Percy took a step toward me. "Please…"

I took a deep breath, my heart aching from being reminded of Luke, from the fact that Percy and Annabeth, and Piper and Leo, and, okay sure, Jason, were all still just kids. Kids expected to save the world. For what? So the gods could keep their thrones? Their rule over our world?

"She loves you. And she misses you. And…and she hasn't stopped looking for you," I told him, my throat getting tight.

Percy let out a breath, blinking rapidly either because his eyes had filled with tears or because he was processing what I'd told him. I was glad that he looked less anguished, though. There was definite pain, most likely from not being able to remember anything, but I was relieved that it hadn't hurt him more.

Nico and Hazel were walking back in our direction when Percy finally looked back at me.

"Thank you," he said.

"Of course," I managed.

"Come on, we're going," Nico said as he and Hazel stopped beside us. He was giving me a cautious look. "I only have ten minutes, though, so we have to make our conversation quick."

"Fine," I said in a slightly snippy tone, annoyed by the look he was giving me. Frowning, Nico reached out for my arm. I took his arm, and once he was sure we had a firm grip on each other's arms, we were flying through that weird, scary, dark place. It took me a moment to get my bearings again, but this time was faster since I was prepared for that jump.

"Will you _stop_ glaring at me," I snapped. We were in at the edge of the forest, on the inside, at CHB. "I didn't tell him anything he didn't already know."

Nico's scowl lessened, but he crossed his arms and shifted on his feet.

"So what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

I crossed my own arms, scowling, too. "Will." I reminded him.

Nico looked away, but I didn't miss the flash of anguish in his eyes. "He told me he liked me and I told him that I didn't like him back."

I scoffed. "It's not that simple. Will would not be crying if that's all that happened." When Nico didn't elaborate, only continued to stare broodingly at the ground, I sighed and uncrossed my arms, trying to make myself as unthreatening as possible. "I swear on the Styx I won't hurt you if you'll just tell me the truth, Nico. We _are_ friends. And we'll still _be_ friends after you tell me. As, your friend, however, it's my duty to tell you if you're being a jerk and hope you correct your mistake. If not, then we won't be friends anymore."

"Why do you think _I'm_ the one who made the mistake?" Nico snapped, glowering at me.

"I know my brother, Nico," I replied calmly. "Also, he told me, and Will isn't a liar."

"And you won't give me the benefit of the doubt?"

"Well, if you'd stop avoiding the subject and just tell me—!"

"I'm not gay, okay! I think it's _disgusting_ "—Nico's expression twisted, to match his words, but there was something else in his eyes I couldn't quite pin-point—"and…I didn't exactly tell him that in so many words, but he got the message, okay. Happy now?"

I blinked, stunned and shocked at his outburst, but also his words. I felt more anger bubble up in my chest, but I fought to control, taking deep breaths and counting to ten in my head (something Rowan had conditioned me to do after that punching-Drew incident). When I felt I'd calmed down enough, I let out a slow breath. Nico was still glaring at me, his hands fisted at his side. His chest was heaving.

"Will is the kindest, sweetest, most cheerful person I have ever known," I started in a level voice. "He's an _amazing_ healer, and he's like his own mini sun—no pun intended. He knows just what to say and how to say it to cheer people up, or calm people down. He has treated _everyone_ at this camp for one thing or another and pushes himself to the point of exhaustion when other are in need, disregarding his own wellbeing.

"His sexuality is a big part of who he is, yes, but that _does not_ mean that that is all he is. His being gay does _not_ change his kindness, or willingness to help those in need, or bravery. He will _always_ be my little brother and I was _always_ love him for exactly who is his, including his sexuality.

"And I hope that you'll think about what I've told you, and apologize to Will. He deserves only the kindness he gives to others. I hope that one day, you'll see that." I paused to let Nico take in my words. By now, he'd relaxed, his hands hanging limply at his sides. I couldn't read the expression on his face. "Go back to Camp Jupiter. I won't tell anyone about Percy, I promise."

Slowly, Nico nodded. I nodded back, once, before heading toward camp to make sure Will was okay.

He was still in the bathroom when I got back to the Apollo cabin. Some of my siblings were sitting next to the door, some were milling around. They all looked up when I came in.

Lyra, who was closest to the door, came up to me.

"How is he?" I asked quietly. I'd only been gone for fifty minutes, an hour at the most, which was weird, because so much had happened in such a short amount of time. Lyra sighed and shook her head just as Reed arrived back. We both turned to face him.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

Reed scowled at me. "You owe me."

"We have advanced archery next," I sighed, looking at my watch. "Would you rather skip for today?"

Reed glanced at the bathroom down, his scowl dropping. "Will's still…?"

"Yeah," Lyra answered.

"I'll stay and see if I can't coax him out," Reed decided.

I nodded before turning to the rest of our siblings. "Okay, come on guys, time for our next activity."

"You can't excuse us again?" Cressida asked, standing and stretching.

"Not with only two other kids in the class who _aren't_ from our cabin," I told her. "That'd just be too hard to explain."

After preparing for our next activity and seeing Viola off to hers, we headed for the woods to meet the two Athena children. I tried to focus more on teaching this time, but I wasn't feeling it. I was still angry at Nico, and I was worried about Percy, and worried about Will. Not to mention part of my brain was always taken up my chronic pain. Trying to allocate energy into teaching was a chore in and of itself today.

Thankfully—and I never thought I'd hear myself say this—but I had chores to do after advanced archery. (Depending on the day, I cycled through different chores and different activities.) Although it was manual labor, it was mindless, so I could let my body work on autopilot while I tried to work through my thoughts and emotions. As the afternoon passed, I continuously checked up on Will, making sure that at least one of my siblings was with him because he still refused to come out of the bathroom.

By the time dinner came around, he was still in the bathroom. I was starting to get _really_ worried about him. My guilt only multiplied tenfold, having put my siblings through this exact same scenario before, only I'd been the one in the bathroom. I quickly over-filled my plate, making sure to throw something in for the offering, before dashing back to the cabin. I told the rest of my siblings to stay at the pavilion, afraid we might get into trouble, or alternatively, raise alarm bells, if all of us didn't show.

I lightly knocked on the door. "Will?" I waited, but no answer. Part of my brain flew into a panic, thinking the worst—maybe he'd climbed out the window and run off into the forest—but I tried to calm it down.

"I brought you some food," I continued. I waited again. Still no sound. I strained my ears, trying to listen for any sound of life, but he was being really quiet. Maybe he'd fallen asleep?

Sighing, I sat down, leaning up against the door's frame, and set the plate beside me, picking at the food and nibbling on it. I wasn't quite hungry myself, but I figured I should eat _something_.

"I managed to talk to Nico," I blurted half-way through dinner. No response. "I…I think I may have gotten him to open his eyes a little. I'm really sorry he said those things to you, Will. I think he's just confused and doesn't quite understand sexuality yet. You have to remember he was born in the forties, which, of course, doesn't excuse what he said. But…he's probably just ignorant and has to work through learned ignorance and homophobia."

I let out a big breath. "I'm sorry, that's probably not helping. Forget I said that. I just want you to know, that I'm here for you if you want to talk." I waited, hoping he'd say something, anything at all. When he didn't, I sighed again and rested my head back against the wall.

I'm not sure how long after I'd given up trying to get him to talk, did I finally hear Will speak. (I may have been dozing.)

His voice was quiet, hoarse, "Victoria?"

"Yeah, Will?" I asked, holding my breath as I waited for him to ask his question or say something. When he didn't, I had to force my heart to stop racing. I rested my head back on the wall in resignation. A few minutes passed before Will called my name again. I responded as I had last time, but like last time, Will didn't say anything after that.

It wasn't until about the fifth time did I realize he was simply checking to see if I was still there, which broke my heart. I tried the knob—still locked, to my dismay.

Will did this a few more times before I realized maybe I could sing a song, help him feel better. If not that, then so I could express to him how much I loved and cared for him. I remembered when my mom would sing a song for me, sitting outside my locked bedroom door on days when I came home crying because the kids at school were bullying me.

Her songs were like a promise. A promise of her love for me. A promise that she'd always care for me. A promise that she'd always be there for me.

They were also a reminder. A reminder that everything was going to be okay. A reminder that it was okay to be emotional, and feel the pain I felt. A reminder to take this as an opportunity to learn and grow.

I grabbed my guitar from the end of my bed and sat back down in the same spot. I tuned it and plucked some of the strings to get a feel for the sound, before I started singing an edited version of "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars, changing the lyrics to fit Will and our sibling relationship. I'd heard it around a few times while out, and on the radio, and really liked the message of the song.

As the last note hung in the air, I heard the lock go and looked up in time to see Will open the door and peek out. My throat closed and my heart jump in my chest before speeding like a racecar. I stood, setting my guitar aside to face my brother. We stared at each for a long time. I wanted to say something, but wasn't sure what to say that'd make him come completely out of the bathroom. Then I remembered how I never really liked talking when I was upset, and how Dan would hold his arms open.

So that's what I did, I held my arms open. Will looked at me for a moment longer. I blinked and suddenly he'd practically crashed into me, wrapping his arms tightly around me and started crying. I wrapped my arms around him, rubbing his back in a soothing manner, my other hand holding the back of his head.

I blinked back my own tears, hearing the pain in his sobs, hugging him tighter.

We stood like that for what felt like an eternity. I let Will get it out of his system, all the while holding him. When his crying quieted and his tears slowed, we moved to the edge of my bed. I grabbed him a box of tissues and a glass of water. We sat in silence, Will's hand lingering next to mine, like he was afraid I might vanish.

Our siblings came back after dinner to check on Will and were glad to see he'd finally come out of the bathroom. They all hugged him, insisting they cancel the campfire, but because Will was Will, he encouraged them to go to the campfire. He didn't want his boy troubles to ruin the rest of the night for the entire camp.

"Who's going to lead?" Austin asked.

"What are you talking about, any one of you guys could lead," I told them.

"I think Victoria to should lead!" Viola exclaimed.

"I was going to say with Will—" I tried.

"I'll stay with him," Viola volunteered, coming up to Will and me with a big smile. "I have an idea I want to try out with him. I've been waiting to get back to camp because I need a wall I can draw on without getting into trouble."

I started to say something, but Will beat me to it, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I'll be okay for an hour. Besides, I'm excited to hear about Viola's idea."

I narrowed my eyes at him which got a laugh. I didn't realize just how worried I'd been about him until his laugh lifted a weight from my chest and I could suddenly breathe easier.

"Well, I guess we should get going, the campfire should've started a few minutes ago," Kayla said, heading toward the door, followed by the rest of our siblings.

Viola started tugging on my hand. "Uh—well—okay, I guess…" I stuttered, standing and starting toward the door, taking a detour to grab my guitar. "You sure you'll be okay?" I asked, looking back at Will as Viola pushed me toward the door.

Will smiled and nodded. "Have fun!" he called to the rest of our siblings.

I was still reluctant, but finally turned and followed everyone out.

I'm going to be honest, I really didn't like the camp songs. I somehow managed to get into it enough that with my siblings, we got the fire twenty feet high and flickering gold. Once the campfire had ended, however, we all rushed back to the cabin.

"Whoa," Austin breathed when we'd entered, stopping in the threshold to gawk at the artwork on the only wall that wasn't light because it was painted with chalkboard paint.

I nodded in agreement as Cressida said, "This…was your project, Viola?" in a strangled voice.

Viola jumped from the top bunk she'd been sitting on, giving me a mini heart attack, and nodded, grinning. Will was also grinning, sitting on the floor in front of their work, legs stretched out, ankles crossed, hands behind him to hold him up.

"We're gonna have to get more chalk," I muttered as I slowly walked forward to stand in front of the two figures now drawn on our wall, from floor to ceiling. Standing at the forefront was Tony Stark/Iron Man. Tony was in his suit, but the face was open revealing the man inside. On his left flank was Dr. Horrible, before he'd been accepted into the Evil League of Evil. I wasn't sure how they'd managed such hyper-realistic drawings with the chalk we had, but I suppose, being children of Apollo it wasn't a stretch.

"Can we add Katniss?" Lyra exclaimed all of a sudden, scurrying forward.

"And Buffy!" Reed added, also running forward.

Soon, we were all drawing, filling the rest of our wall with fictional characters that we admired or liked, and using up the rest of our chalk. (I'd have to sneak out and buy some more, in more colors, too.) There was a lot of excited chatter and laughter. I couldn't help but smile, especially to see Will participating, who looked to be feeling much better. Viola knew just how to cheer us all up.

By the end, we'd filled nearly the entire wall with characters, the only blank spaces left were where their heads reached the ceiling and between each of their heads. It looked great.

About two hours after curfew, we finally went to bed.

Despite the fun two hours we'd just had, I tossed and turned, worrying about Will. Thinking about what Nico had said. I kept staring at Will's bunk. He hadn't moved from his position since lights out, so I had a feeling he wasn't actually asleep. After a few minutes of contemplating an idea, I decided to go for it and threw the blankets off me.

I went over to my chest, glancing every now and again at Will to see if he'd look to see what I was doing because of the noise. The nice thing about being able to go out into the real world was the access to junk food.

Reaching into my chest, I pulled out two pints of ice cream, enchanted so they'd stay frozen and fresh without a freezer. I grabbed two plastic spoons and went over to Will's bunk, tapping on his shoulder.

Will turned over to look at me almost immediately, confirming he hadn't been sleeping. When he saw what was in my hands, his eyes popped and he sat up.

"Where did you get those?" he whispered.

I smiled and winked. "Come on, let's go into the infirmary." Without waiting for him to respond, I turned and started toward the door. I smirked when I heard Will's covers rustle and soft footsteps following me.

We walked down the corridor in silence and turned the lights to their lowest setting in the infirmary. Will hesitantly sat down on the edge of the one of the cots, and I sat across from him, handing him a pint and spoon.

"Oh my gods, I feel like I haven't had ice cream in _forever_ ," Will commented as he opened up his pint. I couldn't help but laugh as he dug into his delicious treat eagerly.

After we each finished about half of our pints, Will stopped and stared down at his ice cream. I felt the mood shift and was instantly worried I may have done something wrong. Even though we'd been eating in a comfortable silence.

"Do you really think there's nothing wrong with me?" he asked in a small, tearful voice.

I set my ice cream aside and shifted closer to him, leaning forward. " _Yes_. There is nothing wrong with who you love, Will. Love is love. It's one of the purest emotions there is."

Will continued to stare at his ice cream, but I had a feeling he was on the verge of tears again. I swiftly moved to sit next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into me. He rested his head on my shoulder.

"Then why does it hurt so much?" he asked after a moment. I froze, sucking in a sharp breath. An image of Luke, shining blue eyes, wicked grin on his face, flashed before my eyes, which then instantly burned with tears.

I let out a slow breath, but it was shaky. "I…don't have an answer for you." I swallowed hard, blinking, some tears streaming down my face. "I'm sorry."

There was another long pause before Will spoke again, his voice so low I almost didn't catch what he'd said: "I hate him."

I squeezed his shoulder before rubbing his upper forearm comfortingly, and resting my head against his, figuring that was better than any words I could say. All I really wanted was for him to know that I was, and always would be, there for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, man, I actually had two whole scenes I wanted to fit in, but this was getting way long.
> 
> I lost my muse there for a little bit, which is part of the reason this chapter has taken so long, but it seems I've found it again. Classes have also somewhat calmed down for me (knock on wood), so I _should_ be able to post, at least, more than a month at a time. Yay!
> 
>  _Finally_ into SON and going to be heading straight in MOA very soon! I'm excited! Be prepared, because if this is a rollercoaster, we've just arrived at the top of a hill. I hope there was enough lightness to angst to balance everything out. (I keep thinking about how I threw too much at Tori for a bit there and hope I do a better job of balancing it now.)
> 
> Also, I hope it doesn't seem too OOC for Nico to have said those things. From how Rick writes him, I feel he may have a lot of internalized homophobia because of the time period he grew up in and how his crush on Percy is described. There's definitely a pain there that Rick doesn't really address, so I thought I'd give it shot while also developing his and Will's relationship more before Nico suddenly looks at Will and falls in love like at the end of BOO.
> 
> For those of you who've stayed with me (to the end of line), a big, hefty THANK YOU! It means so much that you're so patient, and then enthusiastic when I return. It really does.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated! ^_^ (For real, though, guys, it's been like a month—maybe a tiny bit more—since I've received positive feedback for my writing. I'm _dying_.)
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	32. Flying Headfirst into Fate

"—selfish! And arrogant!" I ranted, pacing in front of Rowan who sat in their chair and watched me, pen aloft, tip resting on the pad in their lap, though they weren't writing anything. "They think they can just ask some teenagers—still kids, mind you—to go… _save_ the world!" I threw my hands around animatedly. "They took them, _both_ of them, erased their memories and then threw them to the wolves, not even thinking about the repercussions of their actions. Annabeth is permanently hurting because Percy went missing. Leo is working himself ragged over that ship, and we're suddenly learning about a _Roman_ camp that they've kept a secret from us _for a fucking reason_.

"They just expect those four to fly over to California on a fucking war ship, take three others, and sail off to only they know where?" I let out a growl, pausing to catch my breath. I felt like I was foaming at the mouth, but this was the only place I felt I could express my anger, no holds barred. With the confidentiality that therapists had with their patients, I wasn't too worried. "Ugh, and that Ancient Laws shit, _preventing_ "—I paused in my pacing to look at Rowan and made air quotes—"them from helping their own fucking children! I almost turned into one of them. I almost told Percy I couldn't interfere. I felt _sick, disgusted_ …with myself."

I stopped pacing, throwing my hands down and staring at them, breathing hard.

"With…myself," I repeated quietly. Fisting my hands, I turned back to face Rowan again. "With _them_."

Rowan gazed back at me with those solemn, warm brown eyes for a long moment before shifting in their seat. "You seem upset."

I made a face, going over to sit back down in my seat with a huff. "You could say that," I muttered.

"And yet you will not prevent these…Seven from going?" they asked, leaning forward slightly.

I sat up straighter and blinked at their suggestion. I was shocked at how easily it came to them, but also that I hadn't even thought about it like that. I was so caught up in the mythical world of prophecies and demigods and monsters, something like preventing them from going hadn't even crossed my mind.

"What?" A hysterical laugh bubbled up in my throat, but I managed to stifle it. "No, I can't just—It doesn't work—the Fates—" I stuttered. I frowned. "The Fates would find a way to get them where they needed. I don't think it would matter much what I did."

"Then why didn't you remind Percy about where he came from? If it wouldn't matter what you did?"

"I was afraid he'd get hurt," I answered immediately. "Annabeth told me Jason said the Roman camp was stricter, not as nice as here. I didn't want to jeopardize his safety there."

"So you did it for Percy?"

"Yes!"

"Not for the gods, not because of the Fates."

"Yes, why are you telling me what I already know…" I trailed off, realizing what Rowan was getting at. I felt relieved, but this lasted for about a second before I remembered something I'd said to Nick, the night we'd reconciled.

Rowan narrowed their eyes for a moment and sat back, scribbling something on their notepad. "You don't look pleased to have finally become aware of this."

I looked away, resting my hands on the knee of my crossed legs, one over the other. "Luke…" My hands furled into fists and I quickly moved them into my lap. "Luke thought the same way. He was angry at the gods. He thought…siding with Kronos would benefit demigods who'd been used, who'd been forgotten. He was only thinking of them, using his anger and hatred toward the gods to motivate him, remind him of what—who—he was fighting for."

Like I usually did when talking about Luke, I teared up. My tears spilled over once I'd finished and I quickly reached up to wipe them away, blinking rapidly to dispel the rest, before meeting Rowan's gaze again. I glanced down at their pad and noticed they'd taken more notes.

"Do you feel you are starting to follow his path?" Rowan asked after a pause.

"I don't understand."

"Gaea seems to have chosen you for some bigger purpose neither you nor I can fathom," Rowan explained, my veins going ice cold at the mention of the earth goddess. "Will you follow Luke's path and join her ranks? Have you been considering it after this encounter with Percy?"

I looked down at the floor, my mind racing. How had I not seen this? How had I missed these parallels? It had been the same way with Orpheus's story. It didn't seem obvious until someone else pointed it out to me. I was so stuck in my own thinking, in my own little box, I couldn't see outside of it.

Finally, taking a deep breath, I looked up again. "What if…what if I have?" I asked in a whisper.

For the first time since we'd began our sessions, I saw surprise flit across Rowan's face. They set their pen down and shifted in their seat. "Victoria," they said.

"You promised confidentiality, right?" I interrupted, holding Rowan's gaze.

Silently, Rowan nodded.

I considered this, but decided it wasn't enough. I moistened my lips and shifted in my seat. "Will you swear on the Styx you won't breathe a word of what I'm about to tell you to anyone or to speak out loud about it directly? Under any circumstances?"

Rowan looked at me carefully for a long moment at my strange, specific request. At first I thought they weren't going to, but they nodded once before, "I swear on the Styx." Thunder rumbled in the distance and I relaxed ever so slightly.

"May I use a piece of paper and borrow your pen?" I asked, holding my hands out and sitting forward. Rowan gave me a questioning look, but proceeded to rip out a page from their notebook before handing that and their pen to me. I tried to write on my leg but when that didn't work, I slipped from the chair and used the floor—it was faster.

Once I was finished, I handed the paper back to Rowan and sat back in my chair, watching them anxiously as they read. The longer they took, the antsier I got. I started bouncing my leg. When that didn't work, I chewed on my lip and shifted in my seat constantly, looked out the window, looked around the room, sat on my hands. When that didn't work, I got up and started pacing again, glancing every now and again at Rowan.

At some point, when I'd had my back turned to them, they'd finished. When I looked over my shoulder to see, I jumped when I met their eyes, swirling with an emotion I couldn't decipher and a million thoughts, none of which I could catch.

I forced myself to sit down again.

"This is big, Victoria," they finally said, lifting the paper to indicate what I'd written. "And you've been thinking about this for a while now?"

"Almost since Gaea first started talking to me, trying to recruit me," I told them, nodding. "I was unsure about it until you made me realize that…that a path is opening up before me that is similar to Luke's."

"You do not have to be similar to him in this way, you know," Rowan pointed out.

"I know."

"You're absolutely sure about this?"

"I am."

"Maybe you should think about it for a little while longer."

"I'm running out of time to decide. You've helped me realize a lot of things today." I sat forward, holding out my hand for the paper. Rowan looked at me with a worried expression before reluctantly handing it over. I crumpled it up into a small ball before leaning over and holding it in the beam of light coming in through the window. I focused on the heat of the sun and used my rune help me manipulate that heat, setting the paper ball on fire.

"That's new," Rowan commented as the paper turned grey and furled into ashes. It was a contained fire, the rune helped with that, and quickly self-extinguished. I stood and opened the window, then, letting the breeze carry the ashes away.

"I've been working on it with Lou and Leo, lately," I told Rowan as I closed the window and sat back down. "Lou helps me with the magic of the rune, and Leo teaches me to control the fire."

"Something like that will take great sacrifices," Rowan said after a moment, confusing me at first, because I thought they were talking about my newfound ability, when in actuality, they were speaking of what I'd told them on the paper I'd just burned. "Are you prepared for that?"

A somewhat sarcastic smile pulled at one edge of my lips and I sat back in my chair. "That's what you're for, isn't? Helping me work through my issues now so I am better able to handle whatever else the Fates decide to throw at me?"

A rueful smile stretched across Rowan's lips. "Why don't we get back to Silena, then?"

I took in a shaky breath before nodding.

* * *

My stomach was in a knot, I felt nauseous, and I was hyperventilating enough that I was feeling lightheaded. I wrung my hands, trying to work up the nerve to flip the drachma into the rainbow I'd created with my prism and flashlight.

I was currently sitting on the floor in the infirmary connected to the Apollo cabin, with the lights completely out. The rainbow was on the door that led to the connecting corridor. It was about an hour after lights out, and I'd been up that entire hour, tossing and turning, trying to work up the courage for what I was about to do. With my plan now in play, this was something I had to go through with, to appease Gaea and her damned whispering dreams.

Now that I was here, it wasn't any better. Worse, still, since I couldn't think of a better time where I'd find the privacy to do this, I was most likely going to be waking Nico up.

By the way, Nico hadn't come to camp or contacted me since he'd accidentally taken me to Camp Jupiter. To be fair, though, it'd only been like two days. I doubt he'd worked through whatever it was he needed to properly by now.

And here I was, only going to make it worse, most likely.

Taking one last deep breath, with a shaking hand, I threw the coin into the rainbow.

"O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering," I recited in a low voice, despite not really needing to. "Show me, Nico di Angelo." I watched with baited breath as the rainbow shimmered to reveal Nico in, what looked to be the Underworld. For some reason, I'd expected him to be at Camp Jupiter, though his usual hangout was the Underworld and his father's palace down there. More surprising, he seemed completely awake and alert.

He also didn't seemed shocked to see me floating in an IM in front of him suddenly. "Victoria?"

"Hey," I said weakly, my stomach now churning at what I was about ask him.

Blinking, his face soured tremendously, like he'd forgotten we'd had somewhat of a falling out and was just now remembering it.

"What do you—did you need something?" he asked, trying to look neutral, but only really making his expression look slightly pained, like he was constipated.

I coughed, trying to hide my laugh, my nerves disappearing momentarily. "I…I wanted to ask you about something. If-if that's all right with you?"

"Well, I'm…I'm a little busy right now." He swallowed hard, his expression morphing into nervousness. "Can it wait—?"

"What do you mean? Why are you in the Underworld, anyway?"

"I can't just hang out in the Underworld?" he asked too quickly.

"…you're answer tells me no."

Nico paused. "Fair enough." He paused again. "I'm…well, I'm looking for the Doors of Death."

Out of everything he could've said, that had been the _last_ thing I thought he was going to say. I almost asked him what he meant, then remembered that Gaea most likely had control of them from my conversation with my siblings and…and TJ so long ago. This only confirmed it. I couldn't believe, though, after so long, it'd gone mostly ignored. Then I remembered that Leo was almost finished with the ship and would be heading off any day now—this was most likely some endeavor for the Seven (or…Nico, I guess, if he was looking for them; whether or not he'd had any prompting was unknown to me). This train of thought only made me angry all over again, at the gods, reminding me why I was messaging Nico in the first place.

"Um…okay, uh…do you have a moment, I—this should be quick." I stumbled over my words, my nerves returning, _skyrocketing_ , in fact.

Nico seemed shocked I didn't seem shocked at his declaration, but shook it off. "Uh, sure, I guess. As long as it's not about…Will, or anything that that entails."

"It's not," I assured, my throat closing up. I paused a moment, trying to get my heart to stop beating so fast, and my throat to open up again. "It's about my punishment," I finally managed to choke out.

"Punishment?" he asked, his eyebrows lifting and not furrowing. He was lying. He _did_ know, even though a select number of people were supposed to know. I shouldn't have been surprised Nico knew, though, because he knew a lot of things. Most likely from his "sources." I sat up straighter, I felt my nerves evaporate so quickly I was stunned momentarily.

"And Percy," I tacked on, wanting to see his reaction. Initially I hadn't even planned on telling him I thought Percy was somehow involved.

Nico jerked like I'd just pinched him and swallowed hard. His whole body tensed and his eyes went wide. Well, that was a more violent reaction than I was expecting. _Did_ Percy have something to do with this as well? But what?

"What about Percy?" he snapped. "What are you talking about? Did you tell someone about what happened?"

"No!" I exclaimed, not missing the fact he was trying to turn this back on me. I was also very aware that his anger was a flimsy disguise for the fear in his eyes. In a more level voice I continued, "You're not supposed to know about my punishment."

"I don't," he insisted in a hard voice.

"Then why I don't believe you?" I shook my head. "Look, Nico, we're still friends. I just want you to be truthful with me. I'm not going to let that ruin our friendship."

"I _am_ being honest with you!" Nico's mouth turned down into a deep frown, eyebrows furrowing fiercely. "I don't know what you're even talking about. Some kind of punishment? Percy? This is…this is nonsense to me."

"Nico—" I tried, but Nico interrupted me.

"No, I…need to go. I have to find the Doors of Death before things get out of hand and Gaea releases more monsters, or something worse." Before I could say anything more, he swiped his hand through the IM. The image flickered and disappeared, turning back into a solid rainbow.

I sat back with a huff. That had not gone as well as I had hoped. I suppose, however, I wasn't really sure _how_ it was going to go in the first place. Scowling, I gathered up my prism and flashlight, making my way back to the cabin and putting the stuff away, shutting my chest quietly. I slipped into bed, and rolled over to face the wall, thinking about what had just happened.

Nico had gotten so defensive, which was concerning to me because that meant I was on to something. I had hoped it'd be nothing, but I could tell Nico was lying to my face about not knowing about my punishment _and_ trying to hide something from me. I still was unsure how Percy fit into the equation, or why it mattered that Nico knew, but Gaea was trying to lead me to something.

The question was, why? What did she gain if I figured out what Nico was hiding?

No dreams came, but it didn't matter, because my sleep was restless. I tossed and turned, my mind racing with unanswered questions. Questions that may never be answered. I probably hadn't gotten five hours of sleep when someone was at our door, banging on it at a rapid pace. I jolted up in bed, and automatically reached for my sword, just barely registering that the sun hadn't even come up yet.

_What time was it?_

Before I even had time to get out of bed, let alone unsheathe my sword, Will was already at the door, opening it up. I was surprised at how fast he'd woken and made it to the door. Usually they were slower and groggier. I looked around to see that the rest of my siblings were also up, sitting in their beds. I went to look back at Will to see who was the door but did a quick double-take of my siblings, realizing that they looked frazzled, like they'd been up all night.

I was wondering why they looked like that when suddenly I was engulfed into strong, warm arms. I squeaked in surprise. My hand spasmed and I dropped my sword, much to my chagrin.

With my sword out of commission, I decided to focus on the person hugging me tightly, nearly crushing my ribs, making it harder to breathe. They were saying something, but there was too much stimuli at once, my brain was slow at the upkeep. I was having trouble shoving my chronic pain aside while trying to catch up with everything that'd just been thrown at me. I wasn't making connections or thinking critically. All I knew, at the moment, was the person's arms around me.

"Daniel?" I asked, bewildered. "What the fuck are you doing here? Do you _know_ what time it is?"

"Don't go," Dan said, tightening his grip on me.

"Okay," I gasped in pain, breath whooshing from my lungs. "I can't breathe." Dan didn't respond. I squirmed uncomfortably. "Dan, let go, _I can't breathe_." Finally, my brother pulled away but gripped my upper forearms enough to cause pain, possibly even bruise. I was about to yell at him more when I saw his expression. His eyes had a wild look in them, his chest was heaving like he'd run all the way here, his hair was a rat's nest like he'd just woken up.

" _Don't go_ ," he repeated, shaking me slightly, his fingertips digging into my skin further.

"What—Dan, what's wrong? I don't—" I broke off when the clop of hooves hit our porch. My head snapped in the front door's direction and I realized that it had been left open for one reason or another.

"Chiron?" I asked, sliding off my bed as Dan pulled away from me, releasing his grip. Chiron ducked into our cabin with an expression similar to Dan's. A rock formed in the pit of my stomach and I looked around at my siblings, who all held the same expression. Viola was crying silently, with Austin and Kayla at her sides, trying to comfort her with soft words, rubbing her back gently.

Chiron did a sweep of our cabin before his eyes zeroed in on me. His expression became grave and the rock in my stomach grew in iciness and weight. I felt sick, my ears started ringing, my heart rate quickening. My chest ached and I couldn't tell if it was because of the rush of air or because of the ominous feeling I was starting to get.

"This came for you just now," Chiron said, holding out a small envelope. It was a dark purple color. Hesitantly, I took it. As I brought it closer for inspection, I got a whiff of grapes and nearly dropped it out of sheer panic and shock.

I looked back up at our activities director, not wanting to open it just yet. "What…?" I started, but trailed off as the old centaur shook his head. Gritting my teeth, breath hissing between them, I looked back down at the small envelope, about the size of a business card. Around me, my siblings had stilled and quieted. The only noise was my hissing breaths and Viola's soft crying. I could feel their eyes on me, like knives slowly being pushed into my body.

Hand shaking, I ripped open the envelope, getting another whiff of grapes. My stomach rolled and I stopped breathing through my nose as I pulled the card out. It was thick like cardstock and a slightly lighter shade of purple than the envelope. On the front was what looked to be an ivy crown etched in gold. I turned the card over and in more golden-inked, elegant hand-writing was: _I seem to have misplaced this_.

Furrowing my eyebrows, thinking this couldn't be the entire message, I flipped the card over again. I blinked in slight surprise when what had originally been there had changed: _You know the drill._ I flipped it one last time: _-Mr. D (Dionysus)_

I flipped it again to see if anything would change back, but ultimately ended up with a blank card.

I stared it uncomprehendingly. After however long, I lifted my head to look up at Chiron, my arms falling numbly to my sides, the card and the envelope fluttering to the floor.

"An assignment?' I asked in a hollow voice.

"I'm afraid so," Chiron answered.

"I thought…"

"I do not know what is going on, Victoria, but you know you cannot—"

"Disobey orders," I finished, lowering my head, hot tears of anger forming in my eyes. After all this time? _Months_ of silence and suddenly _this_? Here I had thought if I kept up my chores and didn't tell anyone about my punishment I would be in the clear. I glanced at the blank business card. I guess I had been wrong.

Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but considering the circumstances surrounding this sudden summons, the bad feeling was growing, becoming suffocating.

"Please don't go."

I jumped and spun around, to face my siblings, looking at them in alarm, for they'd all said that at the exact same time, all in sync.

Looking at all their faces, their wide eyes, the bags and purple bruises underneath, I realized they hadn't slept all night. At the very least, they hadn't slept _well_. It'd been so long ago, but I remembered they'd been having dreams that involved me. Apparently, it had gotten worse.

My hands balled into fists and I glared at them. "You promised you'd tell me if they got worse!"

Dan stepped forward, opening his mouth to respond, but Chiron set a gentle, yet firm hand on my shoulder.

"Victoria," he said, grabbing my attention. When I looked up at him, he took a shaky breath. "…you should be leaving soon. Argus is waiting near the van for you."

I nodded. With one last look, Chiron removed his hand, turned, and clopped out. I wasn't sure if it was just me, but his gait seemed slower, more resigned. Why did I get the feeling there was something I was missing?

"It wasn't bad until last night," Dan said, bringing my attention back to our argument.

I turned to face my siblings again, my anger slowly evaporating as I cycled through Dan's words, trying to process them. Apparently, today was going to be a _long_ day. I wasn't even sure how I was supposed to return the damned item to Mr. D if he was still on house arrest on Olympus. They hadn't made contact for _months_ , so what the fuck was this shit?

"Is that why you're here?" I asked in a voice so soft I surprised myself, not expecting the energy to drain out of me so fast.

Dan nodded and stepped closer to me. "You don't have to go."

"I can't disobey," I responded dull tone.

"Tori—"

" _Don't_ call me that!" My eyes snapped back to Dan, eyes pooling with tears. "I'm going, whether you guys like it or not. I'm not going to let _him_ punish you to punish me."

"You really think he's stoop that low?" Will asked softly.

"Yes," I answered in a quiet voice, my sudden anger disappearing as fast as it had appeared.

Viola's let out a wail before running at me. I kneeled and opened my arms for her to run in to. She wrapped her small arms around my neck tightly, and I squeezed her to me, feeling like a cold-hearted bitch for treating them like I was. Part of was me was afraid if I let it show how scared I was, I wouldn't be able to leave, or they would convince me to stay, but that didn't excuse my behavior.

"Please," she sobbed into my neck. "Don't go. Don't go!"

I rubbed her back comfortingly, stroking her hair. "Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry, but I have to. You understand why, don't you?"

Viola pulled away just enough that she could look at me, sniffling and wiping at her tears. I kept my hands on her shoulders.

"Because you did a bad thing," she said in a small voice. "And now you're facing the consequences."

I nodded, brushing some of her hair behind her ear. "Exactly right. I have to face the consequences of my mistakes, and this is one of them."

Viola didn't like that explanation. She let out another sob and threw her arms around me again. With a heavy sigh, I put my arms around her again, holding her close, my heart growing heavy.

"Would you still go, even if we told you what we saw in our dreams?" Reed asked.

"You know the answer to that," I replied, looking up at him. Viola's arms tightened around me. "Will you tell me?"

My siblings seemed shocked at my request. With another sigh and some effort, I lifted Viola into my arms, so I could stand and stretch my cramping legs.

"Maybe I'm foolishly thinking that it'll convince me to stay at camp," I explained, trying to joke, despite our current situation. I glanced at our still open door, realizing the sun was rising and turned back to my siblings. "You'll have to summarize, though, because I really should be getting on soon."

At first, I thought they weren't going to answer. Their gazes remained on the ground, shifting listlessly from one spot to the next. Just when I was about to put Viola down and start getting ready Cressida broke the silence.

"It's dark," she began.

"The ground is as black as night," Reed added.

"Some areas are covered in…glass shards." Austin frowned.

"The air is…suffocating." Kayla put a hand to her neck. "Every breath you take stings."

"Red," Viola mumbled from where she had her head buried in my neck. I pulled back slightly just as she did. "There's red."

"There are monsters. Everywhere," Lyra whispered, shivering.

I looked around at my siblings confused. "What does that have to do with me?"

"You're there," Will explained.

"I call to you," Dan said. "I try to run to you, but…something prevents me. I can't move. I'm frozen. Monsters attack you—I can hear you screaming—"

I sucked in a sharp breath at the image, the sound of my own screaming, the agony of being ripped apart by monsters' claws. A feeling I knew all too well. Holding my breath, holding it all in, together, with effort I pulled myself from those visions that came all too easily to me.

Without a word to any of them, I slowly set Viola down, brushing her hair behind her ears again, wiping away her tears and giving her shoulders one last reassuring squeeze.

I straightened up and faced my siblings. "I have to get ready." I turned toward the bathroom, then, gabbing a pair of clothes from my chest before going to change. My movement had stirred the rest of my siblings, for they began preparing for the day, as well. It was silent as we shuffled around each other.

I'd gone numb. I could barely feel the rock in my stomach. The fear of what was to come if I went on this mission was thrumming just beneath the surface of that Novocain-like fog that'd filled my body. I thought about everything that Rowan had helped me work through, all the things they'd taught me. It looked like I was going to be using all of it. And soon.

I mused at how life seemed to have gone into hyper-speed. Percy had appeared at Camp Jupiter. Nico was looking for the Doors of Death. Now I was being sent to what sounded like my doom. If I did my estimation correctly, the brand-new, fully-finished _Argo II_ would be taking off three to four days from now. They'd be flying to California, Camp Jupiter.

What were the Fates planning? I wondered.

I strapped my sword and dagger to my waist, making sure I had all my jewelry—my necklace, my golden ring, my bow-ring, and my coin bracelet. I slung the quiver of arrows over my shoulder as Dan approached me with a small backpack.

"I…I put a canteen of nectar and some ambrosia in here," he told me, his voice just above a whisper. "Just in case. I also put another bottle of ibuprofen and a water bottle in there, too. I don't know how useful this is going to be, but…it's all…just in case." His voice broke and he looked away.

I quickly took the backpack from him, unslinging the quiver so I could put it on before pulling the quiver back over my shoulder.

"Thank you," I managed.

Dan nodded, but kept his gaze firmly on the ground. He took a step back as the rest of my siblings came up to me. Viola was crying again, but silently. They all had tears in their eyes.

I wasn't sure what to say, so instead I decided it'd be best if we just exchanged hugs. Viola was second to last. I lifted her into my arms and forced the tears back, not wanting to cry, afraid if I saw everyone else start crying I wouldn't be able to leave.

"Promise you'll come back?" Viola whispered.

I pulled away and set her back down. "I-I'll do my best," I whispered, my voice shaking. I tried for a reassuring smile, not sure how I faired, before standing and facing Dan.

We stared at each other for a long time. Dan opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I threw my arms around his neck, and his arms came around my back, his grip tight. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling more tears building up, threatening to spill over.

"If it were up to me, I'd never let you go," he murmured, his arms tightening around me.

"But it's not up to you," I whispered back.

Dan sighed, his grip loosening. "No, it's not."

We pulled away.

Dan stepped back and I faced my siblings.

"I love you guys, you know that, right?" I asked, my voice breaking one very other word. I swallowed the bile in my throat, and gripped the strap of my quiver, digging my nails into my skin to keep from falling apart, when that's all I wanted to do.

They echoed my sentiment, nodding, and sniffling, wiping their eyes.

I looked at Will, sucking in a big breath. "Tell Nick and Leo I said goodbye, okay? And…and Annabeth, I suppose."

Will nodded.

I let the breath out. With one last fleeting look at my siblings, I exited the Apollo cabin, heading straight for the vans.

* * *

As I blinked the darkness that was slowly encroaching on my vision away and fought to get to my sword, not having the energy to call upon the magic that would deliver it to my hand, a small part of my mind wondered how this had even come to happen. After everything, I'd become hypervigilant, even at CHB, more so when I went on extraction missions or even just out into the real world. Especially after Gaea started sending nastier monsters after me. You'd think, after all this time, I'd stand a fighting chance against an ambush of monsters.

Even so, not even the most weathered demigod, with not much by way of powers, could hold off a horde of _at least_ thirty of these demons attacking me now. Their claws raked at my skin, easily slicing through the fabric of my t-shirt and jeans, several at a time flying down, striking, and then flying back up. I wanted to scoff at their behavior. As if I could defend myself in this state!

They never cut deep enough to really do damage, but it cause me pain, and with enough cuts, soon that was all that filled my mind. Aside from my chronic pain, it was the pounding, throbbing pain of my cuts.

Blood loss was also taking its toll. I was getting dizzy and disoriented, my vision swirled and tilted. My stomach churned. My vision grew steadily darker. It became harder and harder to breathe.

Eventually, I gave up. I was only inches from the hilt of my sword, but it was no use. My head pounded, my vision was almost all black now. I couldn't fight them off, even with my sword. There were too many of them. It was hopeless. To think this was supposed to have been a routine retrieval.

The last fleeting thoughts that weren't about pain was the strangeness of my current situation. I'd barely made it off the path down to the Underworld from Central Park when these monsters had descended. Almost…as if they'd been told I'd be arriving here soon….

When I came to, the first thing I comprehended—besides the usual pin-pricks—was the weird burning sensation in my stomach. Like heartburn, but maybe a little worse, and maybe warmer. It was a different kind of burn, not from acid, but from…something else. Surely, it couldn't have been from actual fire. You couldn't ingest fire.

At the same time of this weird burning sensation that was filling me up, my stomach felt strangely hollow.

The air burned my nostrils and throat. It smelled strongly of sulfur, wherever I was. I could feel the blazing heat of something to my right, but my body still felt too heavy and lethargic to move, yet. Curiously, I felt none of my previous wounds from the claws of those demons of disease.

Someone, or something, shifted beside me before that weird, warm, burning feeling entered my mouth and slid uncomfortably down my throat. I coughed, more awake now, my wind pipe not fully closing off before whatever had just been put in my mouth started its descent into my throat.

I struggled to open my eyes, coughing more because the air burned. The more I coughed, the harder I sucked in the sulfurous air, the more I coughed. Finally, though, my lungs calmed down enough that when I managed to open my eyes and my vision slowly cleared, I discerned that I was lying on dark, gritty ground.

Kneeling next to me, on my left, was—

"Nico?" I asked, my voice hoarse. I blinked rapidly, trying to make sure I was seeing correctly. I tried to move, to sit up, but my body was still weak and heavy. Nico had a taught expression—his jaw clenched, lips pulled back slightly, eyes wide and stricken with terror.

My heart lurched painfully in my chest, afraid that something was here, something was going to attack us. I struggled to sit up while simultaneously surveying the area around him. It was barren and rocky. Not just measly little rocks, but ginormous rocks, the size of a houses, with holes carved into them, and scratch marks littered across their surface. The rocks, the ground, it was all black, and eerie inky darkness that was illuminated with a strange, flickering, pulsating yellow-orange glow. Above black _things_ flew around, in and out of, through clouds that were crimson red, as if they were made of blood.

Swallowing hard, I lowered my gaze and carefully looked over my shoulder, not making any sudden movements. I'd managed to sit up at this point, but now I was panting in the odorous air that was caustically burning my nose and throat and lungs (though not as badly as my nose and throat, strangely enough).

I was sitting on a bank, next to a river. A river I had only read about in our books at camp, and seen pictures of drawn next to those descriptions. In wonder, I turned more toward the blazing river, reaching out and passing my hand through the fire of the Phlegethon. It didn't burn, it was strangely cool. Though, I had a feeling if I held my hand in there, I'd burn.

With a start, retracting my hand, I turned back around to look at where I was. This _wasn't_ the Underworld.

I looked back at Nico, dread seeping into my skin, my veins, my bones. My siblings' description of their dreams hit me full force and I realized that it hadn't been a dream, it'd been a vision of my future.

Swallowing hard, Nico opened his mouth to speak, but someone else beat him to the punch. "It's about time you wake up."

We both flinched when their voice boomed from the darkness that couldn't be permeated by the fire's light from the river behind me. I desperately searched the shadows, panic seizing me at the familiarity of the voice.

"I'm sorry," Nico whispered, catching my attention.

"What?" I whispered back just as figures emerged from the darkness. My eyes instinctively jerked toward the movement and the first things that I saw were the hellhounds, being so attuned to them because of what happened. With my ADHD kicking in, I also saw some _empousai_.

Keeping my eyes on the monsters, my hand automatically went for my sword, only to realize that it was no longer at my waist. Neither was my dagger. My bow-ring was also missing. To my surprise, the rest of my non-magic jewelry remained on my person (for which I was secretly grateful for).

"Looking for these," the same voice that'd spoken a moment ago said. That's when two tall—probably at least seven feet tall—figures appeared from the shadows, behind the hellhounds and _empousai_.

One of them was clad in golden, shining armor. His skin was deeply tanned, hair short and dark brown, eyes a harsh gold like his armor. The other was wearing dark grey, nearly black, armor. His skin was a much darker brown, his hair was also short, but deep hazel. His eyes were as black as onyx; I couldn't distinguish where his iris ended and his pupil began.

The one in golden armor was holding my weapons in his palm.

Something about these two was horribly familiar though, not just the voice of the golden one. For some reason, the power emanating from them was something I'd felt before. Unfortunately, my foggy brain was having trouble coming up with the memory, it resting on the tip of my tongue.

As the two figures came forward, Nico slowly stood, and back up, keeping his eyes on me, with the same worried, stricken expression.

"Nicely done, son of Hades," the grey one said with a wicked smile, his eyes flashing malevolently.

My eyes snapped back to Nico and I felt betrayal wash over me.

Before I could even voice my question, though, Nico tried to speak, "It's not—" but was cut off when an _empousa_ came up behind him, gripping his wrists and whispering something in his ear. Nico stiffened, his jaw taught, eyes slamming shut. His hands balled into fists as she ran her hands up his arms, but the effect was dampened by the fact that Nico still wore his much-to-big aviator jacket. It was also clear that her charmspeak and flirtatious nature was having the exact opposite effect intended.

Even so, when the _empousa_ had finished what she was saying, resting her hands on Nico's shoulders and Nico opened his eyes again, he remained quiet, only flashing an apologetic expression my way before averting his gaze.

It became clear to me that he was just as much a prisoner as I was about to be. That was, if they didn't kill me first.

I shifted my gaze back to the two figures who were obviously in charge.

The golden one laughed and turned to the grey one. "It seems she does not recognize us."

"Perhaps it is because we are in our own forms, whereas _he_ never assumed _his_ true form," the grey one mused.

I tried to stifle my annoyed sigh at their pronoun game.

The golden one turned to face me, his violently shining eyes meeting mine, his smile malicious.

"Surely you'd have figured it out by now, at least," he bellowed, closing his fingers around my weapons. For a moment, I was afraid he was going to crush them. Instead, they vanished by some magic of his.

"Our brother did possess your boyfriend's body after all," the grey one added.

I felt like I'd just been shot with an arrow made of ice. Their brother. Their brother who had possessed Luke…

_Kronos._

They were titans.

All the pieces fluidly fell into place—their voices, their unnatural height, the power they radiated.

Unsteadily, I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the pounding in my head or the fact that my prickles protested vehemently (honestly, I'd had to function through worse, anyway).

"What's going on? Which titans are you? _Where are we_?" I asked, my voice stronger, but still hoarse, ruining the effect.

"Well, I think you _know_ what's going on," the grey one answered, eyes sparking with malicious mocking. "As for who we are, well, I suppose there's no harm in telling her. We'll be traveling together for quite a while. It'd be rude not to at least know each other's names." He turned to the golden one in mock query.

"You have an excellent point," the golden one said in the same mocking tone before turning to look at me again. "I am Hyperion."

The grey one turned to look at me, then, too. "And I am Krios." He paused, grinning. "As for where you are, well…" His eyes shifted to Nico. "Why don't we have the little pipsqueak, here, inform you."

On cue, the _empousa_ gave him a little shove forward, releasing his shoulders while she did. Nico gritted his teeth, his eyes flashing with anger at his nickname, his hands still balled into fists.

"Go on," Hyperion prodded. "Tell her what happens to demigods who go looking for things they best not stick their heads into."

I looked at Nico, feeling that same dread permeate every part of my body again. My thoughts shifted to my siblings—how long had I been gone by now? Were they worried? Asking where I was? What happened? What would they do if they couldn't find me?

 _I'm so sorry, you guys._ I thought, miserably, as I watched Nico's jaw work, his hands furling and unfurling into fists.

Finally, he met my eyes. They were determined, but he couldn't hide how tired he was. Or how scared. I briefly wondered how long he'd been down here. How long he'd been captive.

"Tartarus," he finally said in a voice just as rough as mine. "We're in Tartarus."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So…everything kind of happened in much quicker succession than I had actually planned for and, well, this was the result. I'm only kind of sorry for this cliff-hanger.
> 
> I'm going to try and get through Tartarus as quickly and painlessly as possible, meaning that I'll probably only stretch it across this chapter and next (not necessarily that I'm going to just skimp over their time in Tartarus—I've got a bit planned). I don't want to spend too much time here because, let's be honest, it's kind of depressing reading about it.
> 
> Depending on how many words I use to address the main points/ideas while Tori and Nico experience Tartarus, the next chapter may be quite long. We'll see. Hopefully, though, it won't take me forever to write. (Ugh.) *knock on wood*
> 
> "Pronoun game" is taken from Cinema Sins on YouTube. (I love their videos so much.)
> 
> Title is taken from a song called "Make Up Your Mind/Catch Me I'm Falling" from the musical _Next to Normal_. It's a great musical, and if you've got the chance to listen to the soundtrack, I'd totally recommend doing so. This song, in particular, is one of my favorites.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	33. Then Burn the Ashes

My mind reeled with this new information. I was so bewildered I didn't even react. No gasping. No crying, sobbing. Nothing. It was almost like I'd gone numb, actually. Which was probably for the best because if I thought of my siblings too long, how worried they'd be, I could feel the guilt build in my gut. It wasn't just that, either, but also the fear and panic of being in a place that monsters went after we dusted them. This place was meant for monsters, just being here was slowly killing me.

I looked around at the desolate landscape again, mentally checking off everything my siblings had told me from their dream: dark, black soil, glass glinting from the firelight behind me winking like a galaxy, the air did sting when I breathed, and if I lifted my gaze a bit, there were clouds as deep and dark as blood. I lowered my gaze to the ground. It looked like a space had been cleared for me to lay, the glass and dirt having been pushed away to make a small oblong shape around where I stood. I suppose it was a good thing, because I didn't think I'd have appreciated lying on a bed of glass shards.

I couldn't believe such a routine assignment had gone so horribly wrong.

Suddenly, I remembered the ambush, the cuts I'd received, and quickly looked down at my body, just now realizing that I felt no pain—residual or otherwise—of my wounds. There were pink lines where the monsters had cut me, but they _had_ healed (somewhat). If there hadn't been any pink lines, the only way you'd be able to tell I was even attacked were my tattered clothes. My CHB tee had gone from a tee to an improvised off-the-shoulder crop-top. My jeans were just barely hanging together by threads. It was like I was going for a soft grunge look, but was trying _way_ too hard.

Surprisingly enough, despite the fire water, the toxic air, being in a place that rejected me, my chronic pain was actually at a level I could bear. I mean, it was definitely higher than usual, but I'd had days at the level it was at now, so this was almost like any other day for me. If you ignored the sulfurous air, blood-red clouds, and river that was literally fire.

"The fire water from the Phlegethon will keep you… _nourished_ ," Hyperion explained, jolting me from my thoughts, "until we make it to the Doors."

I blinked. "What?"

Hyperion and Krios exchanged looks like I was an idiot, not what they were expecting from the infamous Seirína who'd bested equally infamous monsters. I had no doubt, if they'd been down here, they'd heard the gossip.

"We're taking you captive," Krios enunciated, like I was a child.

I glared at him dryly. "Clearly."

"Then what confuses you?" Hyperion snapped.

"Why?" I asked, not wanting to expend more effort than necessary. It was there turn to give me blank looks.

"Why…what?" Hyperion pressed.

"Why me? Why do you need me?" Something occurred to me and I frowned. "How did I even get here?"

"You really do not know?" Krios asked, sounding incredulous and…disappointed? Though in what, I wasn't sure. Surely not _me_.

I let out a sharp breath, throwing my hands down in frustration. "What, I wake up in Tartarus, a place reserved for monsters and those who oppose the gods, and you just expect me to know everything all of a sudden?"

Hyperion opened his mouth to answer, his own frown etched on his features, but an _empousa_ interrupted.

"Maybe," she started, in an irritated voice, "we should continue this conversation as we walk." She turned to face the two titans. "After all, we are on a schedule."

 _A schedule?_ Could they really tell time down here? Time always worked differently in these types of places than in the mortal world. Then again, they were monsters and titans.

Hyperion and Krios both nodded in agreement. The _empousa_ who was closest to me, the one still standing creepily behind Nico, slipped past him and started toward me. She moved fast, but I didn't miss the twisted smile stretch across her face as she came at me. I had a feeling she didn't appreciate the fact that I kept dusting her sisters, and was afraid of what she might do once she got her hands on me just because she could—as long as, it sounded, she didn't kill me.

Because of the fact that I had come to hate _empousai_ , like hellhounds, I kept track of them at all times, even if it didn't seem like it. I shifted ever so slightly into a fighting stance. Despite conditions in Tartarus, my burning nose and throat, how lethargic I felt, and the fact that there was fire water burning in my stomach, I was prepared when a clawed hand shot out toward me.

I shifted my feet, and dodged her attack, grabbing her wrist and using her own momentum forward to flip her straight into the Phlegethon. She let out a satisfying shriek as she hit the water—er, fire? I turned back to face the titans and their underlings.

"We actually needed that _empousa_ , you know," Krios told me, sounding annoyed.

"You're titans," I responded. "I don't know why you'd need such a pathetic"—I looked at the remaining _empousai_ —"monster with you."

They all bared their fangs and took fighting stances, their nails elongating.

"Stand down," Hyperion barked. When they didn't move, he began to glow even brighter. "That's an _order_." The _empousai_ relaxed their stances, but continued to glare at me.

"We should get moving," Krios said, starting to his right. I followed his path, and if I wasn't hallucinating from the air, the ground seemed to be slanting in that direction.

Hyperion quickly herded me and Nico, following closely behind Krios. He led the group, with Hyperion staying behind us. Nico was at my side, with hellhounds and _empousai_ making semicircles on either side to complete the circle. I wondered why the setup, but didn't want to voice my questions afraid they might judge me more.

"You really don't even suspect how you got here?" Hyperion asked after a few moments of silence, making me jump. I hated being without my weapons. I no longer had my safety blanket and now my nerves were on edge.

Not a good combination.

Still, I struggled to get back to whatever Hyperion had said—what I had wanted to know.

"If I did, I wouldn't be asking you," I ground out, glaring at him again over my shoulder.

"Why don't you reconsider the events that brought you here?" Krios asked from in front, keeping his gaze forward.

" _What_ events? All I know is that Mr. D asked me to run another fucking errand for him—" I broke off and was so stunned at my sudden revelation I tripped on one of the bigger rocks and desperately tried to avoid falling onto the glass-soil. Thankfully, I somehow managed, but I slowed to a stop, contemplating this.

I didn't want to believe it! Still…

After several months of complete radio silence, Mr. D sends me a command, telling me to go back into the Underworld to retrieve something of his. Then, just as I'm setting foot on the shores of the Styx, I'm attacked by a horde of monsters, almost as if they knew I was going to be there. Then I wake up here.

There had to be another explanation, though! Perhaps Gaea had heard of Mr. D's summons and decided to get someone else to send those monsters after me. After all, it sounded like they needed me for something. That was the only reason those monsters didn't finish me off and instead carried me into Tartarus. Now she was trying to blame it on the gods, right?

But…not quite.

Mr. D hadn't spoken to me or given me a mission in _months_. Now, all of a sudden, the night that my siblings' dream was at its worst, and he gives me an order? Not forgetting the fact that he hadn't mentioned anything about still giving me orders for missions in the note he left upon his departure.

It all seemed too out of the blue.

I wanted to ask them how I knew I could trust their implications, how I knew that Gaea hadn't been the one who had orchestrated this, but suddenly realized this played easily into my plan. Besides, if the gods really had sentenced me to Tartarus (which I wouldn't put past them; though _why_ was a bigger question I had), then my hatred and bitterness toward them didn't have to be faked.

Not that it really needed to be at this point in my life, but if I believed that they had thrown me into Tartarus for some ungodly reason, then it just added fuel to the fire.

"Why would they?" I asked, frowning and crossing my arms tightly over my chest, knowing I probably had to play it up a little. They'd get suspicious if I just accepted what they were hinting at. "How do I know you're not lying? How do I know it wasn't Gaea who sent those monsters after me?" I turned slightly so I could look at Hyperion.

Krios boomed a laugh, harsh and mocking. My head snapped over to him. When he'd finished, he turned and met my glare, a malevolent glint in his eyes.

"Still just as loyal as ever, eh?" he jeered. "Even after everything they've done to you? Punished you just so they could blame someone—avoid blaming a dead man? Tortured you with dreams of Luke's cruelty? Made you a slave to that pathetic wine god?" Krios paused. I was so stunned, I didn't even question how he knew all of this. I felt like the breath had just been knocked from my lungs. "Thrown you into Tartarus a place—you said it yourself—reserved for monsters. And those who've defied the gods."

"Victoria?" It was Nico, his voice sounded shocked. I looked over at him and met his confused eyes.

"I didn't—" I tried, but Hyperion interrupted me.

"That's rich," he bellowed. "Coming from you, son of Hades."

Nico's face morphed into a dark hatred and he turned to glower at the titan behind us. There it was again, a mention of something…something he was hiding? From me, maybe?

Before I could think about this more, though, Krios continued speaking. "You were wrong, however, in your statement. You left something out. Monsters are reborn here. Those who have defied the gods are thrown down here as punishment. But there is a third reason why someone may be banished to such a place as _this_." Krios held his arms out slightly, gesturing to the landscape. I was surprised by the venom in his voice when he said "this." I suppose I couldn't blame him, but being a titan, I didn't think the sulfurous air or the glass sand would bother him much. Maybe it was more than just that, though….

Hyperion finished, "Those who become too powerful for the gods liking, _also_ , are thrown into the pit."

It took me a moment to comprehend what he'd said and then more time to put two and two together. When it finally clicked into place, I wanted to laugh! I almost did burst out laughing at the absurdity of his statement. I had no doubt it his statement was true, but they were implying that _I_ was powerful.

Me? Powerful enough to face a god? There was some kind of disconnect there. Or, maybe, more accurately, there was a missing connection.

Either way, there was no way that I was powerful enough to take on a god. I barely had any powers to speak of! Sure, I had the rune and I'd been testing its magic with small things like fire and better Mist work, but beyond that all I had were the skills I'd _learned_. I'd trained and worked hard to get where I was when it came to combat and combat with weapons. If I were to face off with a god, who had unlimited powers over magic and physics, I wouldn't be able to stop whatever magic they could throw at me.

"Is that why you need me?" I asked quietly, despite not believing that's why I'd ended up here. Maybe it had been Gaea after all. "Gaea's still trying to…recruit me?" I looked down at the ground, the twinkling glass shards. I could feel Nico's shocked, questioning gaze on my face, but I ignored him.

If I was so powerful, why hadn't I been able to face that horde of monsters that'd ambushed me? Why was this atmosphere slowly killing me, every breath like razor blades down my throat and in my lungs? Why couldn't I just summon my weapons and fight off these monsters and Titans? Why couldn't I just escape Tartarus?

I didn't feel powerful. I felt pathetic.

A slave, he had called me. Because that's all I was.

Instead of answering, we continued trudging along. We followed the Phlegethon, stopping every now and again so that Nico and I could drink from the river and restore ourselves.

I don't know how long we walked, and I'd taken off my watch and dropped it, afraid if I kept it, I'd be tempted to look at what time it was. I didn't want to know how long I'd been down here. It might very well drive me insane. Soon, though, we came to a massive cliff, leading even deeper into Tartarus.

"Now we climb," Krios announced. Without waiting for any response, Krios started to descend.

I crept up to the edge for a better look—the side of the cliff went straight down, and there wasn't much by way of handholds, just a ton of crosshatching of small ledges. Krios was currently picking his way down the ledges. I slowly took a few steps back.

"I can't do that," I said bluntly, turning to look at Hyperion. A few of the monsters went before one of the _empousai_ pushed Nico toward the ledge and forced him to start descending. Hyperion frowned, his golden eyes glowing in annoyance and animosity.

"It's not a choice, demigod," he snarled.

"I _literally_ cannot _physically_ climb down," I told him. "I'm going to fall. I know this for a fact." I was hoping if I was this important to Gaea, they'd listen and find a way to get me down that didn't involve me climbing, but apparently that wasn't the case. I blinked and a sword the size of a surfboard had been shoved into my face. Hyperion gripped the leather-bound hilt, the brown complimenting the golden color of his sword.

"Move," he ordered, staring me down.

I met his gaze evenly for a few seconds before turning and creeping back up to the ledge. All of them were still picking their way down, except for the _empousai_ , who were having no trouble at all. They were practically mountain goats, hopping from one ledge to another, all the way down, past the hellhounds and even past Krios.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly lowered myself onto one of the ledges, and started picking my way down. Just like the climbing wall at Camp. And just like the climbing wall at Camp, I hit a point when my body gave out.

My prickles didn't spike, they gave no warning of what was to come. One moment I was desperately trying to keep my grip and not fall to my death, the next I was falling to my death.

It was very reminiscent of my fall off the cliff on Mount Tam. Luke had been cornered by Thalia. He'd tried to wrestle her spear away to use it as his own, but miscalculated her reaction to his attack. I'd shoved him out of the way just as Thalia kicked. She'd thrown me off balance just enough that my foot slipped off the edge.

I'd died that day.

I was only alive now because Luke had begged Kronos to bring me back. Luke had threatened the titan lord that he'd no longer host him.

Now it was happening again. I found I wasn't scared as I was last time. In fact, I didn't really feel…anything.

I closed my eyes, bracing for the pain that would last an agonizing moment before, hopefully, cutting off swiftly. I wondered what would happen to my soul if I died in Tartarus. Would it be stuck here forever because of Tartarus' massive, unforgiving pull? Just my luck, that'd be exactly what would happen.

I felt a small pang at the thought of not even having the slim chance to see Luke again.

My body collided into something, jolting me, but the impact wasn't strong enough to do any damage. Then I was falling again, but for a brief period and then…nothing. I was still breathing as far as I could tell.

I opened one eye, then the other. I was still in Tartarus. The blood-red clouds floated above me. Black shapes with wings flew in and out of them. To my right was the Phlegethon. To my left was a dark grey breastplate. I lifted my gaze slightly to see the not at all pleased face of Krios.

"Huh."

Krios frowned at my lackluster comment after a near-death experience before setting me on my feet.

"What do you think you're doing?" Krios asked, his voice hard. It reminded me too much of a scolding parent than an angry titan.

I did a survey of where we were now, since I hadn't gotten a good look up on the cliff. "I told Hyperion I couldn't climb. Obviously, he didn't listen." I explained as my eyes wandered the weird new terrain. Krios may have said something else, but I'd zoned out already.

This new area was really different from above. Somehow it seemed even bleaker than before. An ashy-grey plain stretched before me littered with bristling black tree-like things and giant spires of rock jutting from the ground, cave entrances that could fit an adult-sized dragon, and huge, weird zit-like things filled with gross yellow puss. I watched in horror as one of them burst to reveal a regenerated monster. A telkhine. I cringed at my memory of those particular monsters.

Then I noticed, on the horizon, a wall of black…smoke? Fog? I wasn't sure. All I knew was that it was massive, stretched across the entire horizon, and looked ominous. I looked to my now left at the Phlegethon again and followed its path through the terrain. It split into different branches, forming a Greek delta, before meeting with another river. This river had rushing black water. And where they clashed, steam rose and the water boiled. Despite the opposing liquids, they continued to flow toward the line of ink in the distance.

I looked down at the soil beneath my feet again, something feeling off about it. It seemed too…smooth. Compared to the soil we'd just been walking on, this was like sand, but something seemed really off about it. It was the same feeling I got when I looked at the trees sticking up from the ground. They had a strange hair-like quality that made my stomach churn.

Kneeling down, I picked some of the soil up, curiosity getting the best of me. My stomach knotted so hard I gagged and stood up, recoiling from the soil. One hand flew to my mouth to try and stop myself from throwing up while the other wound around my stomach. I squeezed my watery eyes shut, gritting my teeth.

The soil hadn't just been smooth, but _warm_. That wasn't even the worse part, though. No, it was after I'd picked up a handful of the stuff. Underneath wasn't another layer of soil or sand or dirt or whatever. No, what covered the ground now was a superficial layer. Underneath was a single membrane that reminded me of _skin_.

"Hey!" a deep voice boomed, breaking me from my disturbing revelations. I swallowed hard and lowered my arms, turning to face Hyperion just as he jumped from where he was a few feet up on the cliff, landing a few feet away from me. "What was that, halfling?" he snarled, coming forward, teeth bared, hands furled into tight fists.

I expected to hear my alarm bells, feel the panic, reach for my sword, but it was like a switch had been flipped. My alarm bells were utterly silent, and I had no sense of self-preservation. It was like that near-death experience had reminded me of everything I'd lost. I suddenly found I didn't care what happened to me. Live? Die? Didn't matter to me. I just didn't care.

"I don't know what you expected," I snapped. "I told you I was physically unable to climb and you threatened me anyway. What else was I supposed to fucking do? Jump?"

"I'm getting really tired of your attitude," Hyperion snarled. "I am a _titan_ , an immortal being that could _crush_ you like a bug. I expect you to start treating me like so."

"Oh, yeah?" I goaded. "If you're so powerful why did you lose the Second Titan War? Bigger question—"

I didn't have time to finish. The back of Hyperion's hand shot out and connected with my face. Pain blazed in my cheek and jaw, and I hit the ground. When I came to, my vision clearing of stars, I lifted myself up to one elbow and looked at Hyperion only to come face-to-face with his sword. Again.

" _Hyperion_ ," Krios snapped in a harsh tone, "We must keep the girl alive." But I'd hit a nerve with my comments and Hyperion wasn't anywhere close to being talked down now. Not after I'd insulted him so. Me, a demigod. A bug.

"Do you have a death wish?" Hyperion demanded, shoving the sword's point closer to my face.

"Well, yes, but I don't think that's the point you're trying to make," I responded, my eyes sliding up to meet the titan's. This was met with utter silence. I couldn't read the expression on Hyperion's face. "Wow, tough crowd." Still no reaction. "You know, you didn't let me finish earlier. I wanted to know, if you're so all-powerful, immortal titans, then why are you still down here?"

Hyperion bristled, glowing brighter than I'd seen, his eyes almost looked like exploding supernovas, and let out a cry of outrage, pulling his sword back and throwing it forward. I kept my gaze locked on Hyperion's supernovas, once again bracing myself for death.

And once again, it never came.

There was a loud clash of swords meeting and sparks flew. Hyperion was suddenly obscured from my view and the lack of light was such a sudden change on my eyes, it took a moment for them to adjust. When they had, I realized Krios had stepped in front of me and blocked Hyperion's strike.

"You know what Mother said," Krios growled in a low voice, facing off against his brother. "I don't like it either, but _the girl lives._ "

They stared each other down for a long time before, finally, with one last murderous glance at me, Hyperion shook Krios off and sheathed his sword. Krios let out a breath before sheathing his own sword. Then his eyes were on me, giving me the same murderous glare Hyperion had given me a moment before.

"On your feet," he barked. Biting my tongue on a snappy reply, I quickly stood. They allowed us to get one more drink from the Phlegethon before ushering us back into that strange circle formation again. Then, we began walking toward the wall of black smoke, navigating through the hair-like trees, skirting around giant bubbles of puss, and staying as far away from the cave entrances as possible.

Nico kept throwing glances in my direction, but I ignored him, and instead wondered why they were arranged in such a position surrounding us. It wasn't like we were going to run anywhere. There wasn't really any other place _to_ go. Besides, we also had two very powerful titans before and behind us. It wasn't like we'd get far, even if we tried. Those thoughts quickly vanished when, as we were passing one of the larger cave entrances, even the several yards we were away from it, something big and black shot out from the darkness and snatched up one of the hellhounds.

I was so startled by the bigger monster's appearance and its sudden movement toward us, I instinctively stepped in front of Nico, pushing him behind me simultaneously, and reaching for my nonexistent sword.

It moved so fast, though, I blinked and it was gone. I didn't even hear the hellhound yelp or know what kind of monster it had been. (I had a feeling, I didn't _want_ to know, anyway.)

Swallowing hard and licking my chapped, slightly stinging lips, I glanced behind me at Nico. I had stopped, and so had our convoy.

"Um, sorry," I muttered, lowering my arm and stepping back to my place next to him.

"No, it's…it's fine," Nico murmured back.

Hyperion snorted at our exchange. I glanced back to glare at him, but when I turned to face front again, I noticed Nico was also glaring at him. However, Nico's glare was more drawn out and malicious than mine had been. Mine had been out of annoyance. Nico's looked out of hatred with a strange mixture of pleading. When Nico turned to face front again, I quickly looked away.

What was that all about?

We continued on. My feet ached. My stomach growled with hunger, and my throat and mouth felt like they were stuffed with sand. My lips were chapped, cracking and bleeding, but I forced myself not to lick them and make it worse. I just needed to let them dry out. Surprisingly enough, my chronic pain was still staying at a level that I was used to, that I could handle. The Phlegethon must've been having some effect on it, like how it healed wounds.

The closer we got to the wall of darkness, the heavier my body felt. I couldn't tell if it was because of the pull of Tartarus or if I was becoming too exhausted to stand. Maybe both? Despite my exhaustion, it was like some invisible force that was pulling me forward, deeper and deeper into the depths of this awful place.

By the time we actually made it to the wall—which took I don't even want to know how long—we'd lost and gained at least five or six of our monster protection detail, and then lost them all. Now it was just the titans, Nico, and I.

* * *

Hyperion and Krios switched places, then, Hyperion entering the fog without hesitating or batting an eye. Nico and I had no choice but to follow, exchanging a wary look with each other before we were swallowed up by the strange darkness.

Tartarus had been blazing, horribly hot, like an oven. The fog was cold to the touch, but heavy. I felt like something was sitting on my chest just enough that it was laborious to breathe. Which didn't help my fatigue. Neither did the fact that the ground seemed to steadily slope downward the further we walked.

"Why do you do it," Krios asked suddenly, breaking up the static with occasional bursts of the roars of monsters.

I jumped, having forgotten he was even there, and looked behind me. I could barely see him so I faced forward and focused on Hyperion's glowing, blurry figure. That was the only reason I knew where we were going. From his glow, I could tell small details, like giant rocks that we just barely managed to avoid crashing into, and pits I would have for sure fallen into had I not been forced to stay behind the golden titan.

"What?" I snapped, when he didn't elaborate and Nico seemed too tired to speak. I couldn't believe he wanted to strike up a conversation. Now? Now of all times? _Really?_

Like some kind of comedic timing of the cosmos—rather, the Fates—the air seemed to grow colder and Hyperion's glowing figure dimmed ever so slightly. The only reason I could even tell was the fact that I'd been staring at his back this entire time. Otherwise, I was sure I wouldn't have even noticed.

"Why do you continue to fall behind the gods, protect the gods, when all they have done to you is make you suffer?" Krios explained. His voice turned mocking as he continued. "You know they are just using you. They wouldn't be where they were had it not been for gullible demigods like you, who think they can win favors, immortality, forever in Elysium."

We walked a few paces and I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling the hole in my chest start to slowly expand.

"Is that what Kronos told Luke?" I asked in a quiet voice.

"He did not detail exactly how he convinced Luke to help us," Hyperion answered from ahead. "But I imagine it was something along those lines."

I felt a grim smile pull at the edges of my lips. "You think you can appeal to my bitterness and hatred toward the gods, like Kronos did with Luke? Is that why you're asking?" I paused for a moment before continuing. "If you really want to know, it's because I know that the gods are better." I scoffed. " _Better_. Maybe not by much, compared to your kind, or Gaea, but they are _better_." The word was like acid in my mouth.

A heavy silence fell upon our little group after my half-hearted statement, then: "And if the gods were no longer better?" It was said so quiet, I wasn't sure who'd spoken.

I slowed my walk, coming to a standstill, staring at Hyperion's back. My arms fell limply to my sides. "Then I would strike a match, set fire to Olympus myself, and watch it burn."

"How could you say that?" Nico yelled, facing me, his brown eyes that had been weighed down with exhaustion now wide and lit with fury. I blinked, shocked at such a strong response.

"Nico?" I asked, bewildered.

"Did you not learn from Luke's mistakes?" he snarled, gesturing animatedly with one hand.

I frowned, my own hands balling into fists at my side. "You have no idea what I've been through. You wouldn't understand!"

" _I_ wouldn't understand? Are you fucking kidding me? _I_ wouldn't understand?" He gestured around him, pointing out that we were in the same situation, currently. "You think being a child of Hades is _easy_? To be cursed, surrounded by death and darkness _all the time_. To be _hated_ by demigods because of who my father is. To be _hated_ by…my own father. He doesn't say it, but I _know_ Hades wishes Bianca had survived instead of me. Because I'm a screw-up, a failure.

"I never asked for any of this." Nico was breathing hard when he finished, but his voice had died out at the end.

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my anger under control. "My father—"

"Your father is the god of the _sun_ , of light. And music. And poetry. Things that bring people happiness and joy. You've never been—"

"You're wrong," I snapped, tears burning my eyes. I could feel my whole body vibrating and my chest swelled with anger and hurt. I couldn't believe after everything I'd told him, everything we'd been through, talked about, he didn't realize just how similar we were.

"My father is welcomed at camp like yours isn't, but _I'm_ not. I'm a traitor, remember? I'm the one who fell in love with a man who betrayed his family and defied the gods, who swore his allegiance to the titan lord. And when I went to try and fix it, I ended up being his very demise.

"And what did people construe it as? Joining Kronos, betraying my family and the camp. The Haephestus cabin thinks I'm a curse, a plague. They think I killed Beckendorf and cursed them. The Aphrodite cabin believe I should've become the spy again—maybe Silena wouldn't have died trying to fix her mistake—yet hate me like I was the spy the entire time, anyway. The thing they have in common? They wish it had been _me_.

"They wish it had been me, who'd been impaled by a piece of Kronos's ship. They wish it had been me, who'd gotten acid spat in my face. _I_ wish it had been me who'd…fallen off the Williamsburg Bridge instead of Michael.

"You look at my staying at camp as acceptance? The only reason I'm even still alive is because the gods thought it more painful if I were to live without Luke. And they were _right_. Every day that goes by I wish I was dead, with Luke. Add salt to the wounds and make me a slave for Mr. D. His wish is my command. I can't say no, lest I want to be strangled by vines or driven insane. I'm here, now, because he gave me an order.

"The looks I get from the other campers, _all day_ , of suspicion, hatred, mistrust, anger—shall I go on? You think I'm accepted at camp just because I'm a child of Apollo? I never asked for any of this, either."

Nico stared at me with an expression I couldn't read. A whirlwind of emotions swirled in his dark eyes, but none of them stayed long enough for me to decipher. At the very least, he didn't seem angry any more. That I knew for sure.

"Victoria…" Nico started in a quiet voice, but was cut off abruptly by Krios.

"That's quite enough of that," he rumbled, his lip curling in disgust. "We have a timetable, so _move_!"

Without warning, his hands came forward and shoved both of us toward Hyperion, who'd been watching our exchange. He turned as we stumbled forward and began walking again. I avoided looking at Nico, keeping my gaze on the ground.

After a little while longer of walking in the fog, the terrain changed again. With my eyes on the ground, I noticed the shift there first. It went from ashy black to pale and smooth. My head snapped up to look and, sure enough, the more we walked forward, the more the fog cleared revealing another forest.

This forest had just tree-like things, jutting from the strange, pale ground. They were round and bare of any other branches. It was a shocking sight compared to all the jagged areas I'd seen thus far in Tartarus. They stretched up, into the darkness above.

"Where are we now?" I asked, the change of scenery so jolting I needed to know.

"Quiet!" Hyperion hissed, looking over his shoulder to glare at me. I wanted to snark back at him, but noticed the tenseness in his shoulders and the cautious look in his eyes. He had unsheathed his sword and was creeping along the ground, like he was trying to make as little noise as possible.

My heart migrated into my throat and my previously malfunctioning alarm bells started to go off. I glanced behind me at Krios, who had the same cautious look and tense shoulders as Hyperion. He, too, had his sword out.

I looked at Nico warily. He mirrored my expression.

We continued along, in a deafening silence. Nico nudged my arm, making my heart nearly launch itself from my chest, and pointed up. I followed his arm just in time to see the tops of the trees shivering, like something was moving in them, in the gloom where I couldn't see.

I lowered my gaze back to Hyperion, opening my mouth to ask a question when suddenly I was being pushed toward one of the bare trees by Krios. Nico was shoved next to me, and both the titans stood in front of us protectively, swords held at the ready. I wanted to object, but it died in my throat when I realized why they'd moved us.

Before them stood a strange monster that kind of reminded me of the demons of disease in the Underworld. It was a wrinkled old lady-like thing, with batlike wings. Brass talons stretched from its…fingers? And its eyes glowed red, yet despite this, they looked surprisingly dead, glassy. It wore a dress of tattered black silk and its face was twisted into an expression of malevolence, fangs bared in a silent scream.

Nico took a shaky breath in. "What is it?" he whispered.

 _The_ arai, _the curses_ , a disembodied voice hissed from somewhere above the trees. What's worse, the monster's face hadn't moved when the voice had spoken.

" _The arai_ ," I repeated in a small voice. Bad decision. The air around us stirred with the sound of flapping wings. More and more of the… _arai_ appeared, landing next to the first one who'd appeared, completely surrounding us.

Hyperion and Krios shifted in response as more and more appeared. They stretched out, across the landscape. Just when I thought there couldn't be anymore, more appeared, dotting the pale ground with their black, haggard bodies.

"Don't engage," Krios growled in a low voice.

"For every one you kill, you are cursed," Hyperion added. "Let us handle them."

"If you know what they are, why didn't we just avoid this place?" I whispered angrily to mask the sheer terror that was starting to fill every pore of my body and take over my mental faculties.

"It is unavoidable, there are places we must pass through to get to the Doors," Krios explained, to my surprise.

As if some invisible cue had been made, the _arai_ lunged at us.

* * *

It was a good effort, and, I mean, the titans fought well, I grudgingly admit. They were titans, after all. However, we had been completely surrounded by the monsters. They'd surged from behind, and even though Krios had tried to keep them from us from behind, both titans were overwhelmed within seconds. The _arai_ swarmed like ants attacking an intruder.

"Tori!" Nico shrieked. My head snapped over to my right, just as an _arai_ grabbed Nico's arm and started tugging him away. I quickly lunged forward and grabbed his outstretched hand. One of the other _arai_ grabbed hold of that arm, digging its talons painfully into my skin.

I let out a yelp, but refused to be split up from Nico. I had just enough time to glance behind me at the titans, still slashing and hacking at the monsters, and wonder if titans could die down here, before my vision was obscured by another _arai_.

They carried us away from our chaperones and when they finally let go, standing back, but surrounding us again in a smaller circle than before, I couldn't even see where the titans were anymore. I was shocked, surely this landscape wasn't _that_ big? Then again, it was Tartarus. This place could've stretched on forever, it didn't have to make sense.

Even so, the very human part of me _wanted_ it to make sense.

I was still gripping Nico's hand. We stood back to back, despite the lack of weapons.

"Do we fight?" I asked, looking around at all those red eyes and grinning faces. They took a step in.

"Do you want to get cursed?" Nico asked in response. Another step toward us.

"I don't know that we have much of a choice," I said. They were now about a foot away from us on all sides.

A chill ran down my spine and I responded instinctively. Gripping Nico's hand, I spun him as I turned, snapping him almost like a whip, but not hard enough to actually snap any of his bones, so he wouldn't be thrown into the crowd of _arai_ , just as one of the monsters lunged forward and swiped. It got my side, easily cutting through my skin. Blood spattered the pale ground and I let out a cry of pain, my knees buckling. I let go of Nico's hand so I could put my hand on my wound, more out of instinct than to actually stem the blood flow. The wound was too big.

"Tori!" Nico exclaimed, frantically, at my side, holding me up. "Tori, why did you—?"

 _Well, what do you wait for, son of Hades! Attack! We wish to laden you with curses,_ the _arai_ goaded.

I sucked in a breath, trying to fight past the pain and the black spots dancing across my vision. "Don't," I managed, sinking even closer to the ground. Nico kept trying to keep me upright, but either he was weak from starvation, or he just wasn't strong enough. He collapsed next to me, keeping an arm around my shoulders. My head lolled onto his shoulder.

Through my hazy vision, I noticed he was gripping a rock in one hand. I didn't know where or when he'd found it, but I had a feeling what it was for.

Summoning what little strength I had, I reached up and grasped his wrist, the one that held the rock.

"Tori, I need—" he started, but I cut him off by taking a shaky breath and singing. I let the thoughts I'd been avoiding surface to the forefront of my mind: my siblings, Dan, and I sang of them. I sang of how worried they must be, how much hurting they were probably going through right now, especially Dan. I sang of my guilt, for leaving them like I did, despite their pleas for me not to. And my guilt for everything I'd put them through since the war. I sang of how much I loved them and missed them. I sang my apology to them—that I was sorry I had lost the will to fight.

My own voice started to sound distant. And when had I closed my eyes? Even so, I poured all my emotions into that song and kept singing until I was no longer aware of anything around me. It felt like I had fallen into some kind of trance. Or, perhaps, gone to sleep and hadn't even known it.

But the next thing I knew, I was waking up. We were still in the forest of bare, black trees, but I was laying down because all I saw were the tops as they disappeared into the black "sky." Slowly, I sat up, my head feeling fuzzy and my throat and lungs burning, probably from breathing in the sulfurous air to sing.

_Sing!_

It all came flooding back—the _arai_ , the wound, Nico and his rock. I looked around, afraid I'd lost him, or he'd gotten hurt, cursed, or had been ripped apart by the monsters. What I found wasn't what I expected. Hyperion and Krios were back. They were standing next to me, with deep frowns etched on both their faces. Their eyes stayed on me, but I couldn't read the emotions contained within them.

Nico was on my right, also kneeling next to me. He looked relieved, and even smiled when I looked at him. I think I managed my own back? Then I realized that I wasn't in pain anymore and looked down at my side: completely healed. So was the wound on my arm.

I wondered how I'd been healed, but saw around, us, still were the _arai._ And for a moment, I panicked. My heart sped up like a race car and blood roared in my ears. Were they still planning on tearing us to shreds? Cursing us? Then why were Krios and Hyperion here?

I opened my mouth to…say something, or maybe ask a question, I wasn't really sure myself, but the disembodied voice interrupted, sounding tortured, _Leave,_ it sobbed. _Do not sing again! Just leave!_

I looked at Nico, then the titans for confirmation for what I'd just heard.

"We should get moving," Hyperion answered in a low voice.

Silently, I nodded. Nico stood and helped me to my feet. The titans got into formation and our convoy was off again. The _arai_ separated for us, like the Red Sea, and we returned to the fog, which seemed to have returned to us, as if we had passed the that trial.

* * *

The fog was the same as it was before, thick and cool. My stomach still ached with hunger and my throat still felt like it was on fire, but the titans, probably having no concept of hunger or thirst, marched us on. Honestly, I was surprise I was still even upright. That fire water really did wonders, because how my body was functioning without food or water was a miracle. Especially with how toxic this place was for demigods.

The terrain had changed a bit. There were still boulders and large rocks, but they were pointed now. And instead of the craters that you could fall into, there were pools of bubbling muck, like black tar. Thankfully, it didn't smell like tar. Though, it did still smell like sulfur, my nose never having gotten used to the stench.

After another long time of walking along, my feet going numb, the darkness dispersed like a fan had been turned on briefly and blown it all away.

Before us was a clearing—barren, filled with dust and stones. It looked more like something you'd see in the mortal world than anything else here, which made me instantly suspicious and mistrustful. As we went further into this wasteland, I realized we were walking toward someone.

I heard them before I saw them—horrible wailing. It was agonized and pained. It made the hole in my chest expand and ache a thousand times more. The demons in their cage rattled, snarled, and howled in response to this person's sobs. I faltered in my steps, and stumbled, but Krios shoved me from behind, sending me forward. I managed to regain my footing and keep walking forward, but everything in my body was screaming at me to run in the other direction.

Through the gloom, a figure appeared, sitting on the dirty ground, back bowed over something in her lap. Her clothes were ripped and torn, her limbs emaciated, like the victim of a famine. Her skin was strangely leather, like a mummy's, but a sickly shade a green. Not neon or glowing, but dark and ominous.

Hyperion slowed his steps, but now I was curious (adding the mixture of other emotions I was currently feeling), and peeked past him at whoever it was we were approaching.

The longer I looked at the figure, the more I noticed, like her broken fingernails and toenails. Dust had accumulated on her skin, almost petrified with it, and was piled on her shoulders to an impressive height, despite how they shook when she cried.

Finally, the figure looked up when we were just several feet away.

Hyperion stopped in his tracks.

"Akhlys," he greeted formally.

"Goddess of Misery," Nico whispered beside me.

Everything clicked into place and made so much more sense. I looked back at Akhlys and nearly screamed at the sight of her face.

Desolate. That was the word that came to mind when I saw her face, her expression.

Her eyes were sunken and looked like they'd been pickling from all her tears and nonstop crying. Currently tears were streaming down her face, nose dripping like a tap that wasn't turned off. Her grey hair was stringy and greasy, sticking off her head in nasty, painful-looking mats. Her cheeks were bleeding, and glancing down at her fingernails again, I realized it was because she'd been clawing at them. My stomach did a somersault and my vision blurred for a moment. Just the very thought….

I tried to focus on something else, something less gruesome, like the thing in her lap. It was a shield, made of rotting wood and battered, dull bronze. Upon it was a picture of Akhlys holding the shield like she was now in front of us. I started when her tears and blood spattered onto the shield and my eyes instinctively shifted up to her face again. I blinked hard and looked elsewhere, keeping her in my peripherals.

"Why have you come?" she wailed. "What are those you've got behind you?"

"We need you to allow passage for these two demigods," Hyperion said in a stiff voice, cool but tense. If titans didn't like her, I didn't want to be anywhere near her. Yet, if I was hearing Hyperion correctly, I didn't have a choice.

Akhlys made a strange gurgling noise, throwing her head back, and it wasn't until I looked at her again, head-on, did I realize she'd been laughing. Her lips were twisted into a gruesome smile.

" _Allow passage_ ," she repeated. "What makes you think I will do _anything_ you want?"

"Gaea—" Hyperion tried, but was instantly cut off.

"What the earth goddess says or does has no bearing on me," she snarled, baring her gross yellow teeth.

"Akhlys," Krios tried, this time, stepping past me and standing next to Hyperion. Only, her attention changed from the titans to Nico and me, and interrupted Krios.

"Let me see them," she said in a strangely quiet tone.

Hyperion and Krios exchanged glances, before looking down at us, and then stepping aside. I looked at Nico in a sudden panic. To my surprise, he held out his hand. I took it and together, we walked forward.

Akhlys eyes continued to spill with tears, her nose still dripping, her cheeks still bleeding, but her eyes were unusually keen and perceptive. When I met them, it was like she was looking at the depths of my soul, pulling up every miserable memory I'd ever had and making me relive them in surround sound, Technicolor, high-definition. I found myself letting out a breath and relaxing when her eyes turned to Nico. He tensed, his hand squeezing mine.

When she released him, she regarded us with a strange expression. Something that didn't fit on a crying, snot-nosed, bloodied-cheek face. But I couldn't exactly tell what it was. Respect? Anger? Interest? Maybe all three at once? And more?

"My, my," she finally said in her ragged, scratchy voice, from continuously sobbing. "I have not seen so much sorrow and pain in a long while. And to think"—her gaze rested on me and then Nico—"that I get two in one day." She gurgle-laughed again. "The Fates do make some very interesting decisions sometimes."

I heard one of the titans behind Nico and I take a breath, but Akhlys held up her emaciated hand and regarded the titans behind us. "I will take them to where they need to go. Whether or not they make it is wholly up to them." She looked back at us with a wicked smile, like she was happy about something. "There is not much more misery I can inflict upon these two."

Without another word, Akhlys stood, letting the shield fall out of her lap and roll off to the side, landing in the dust with a dull thud.

"Come." Akhlys turned and gestured for us to follow with one of her fingers, walking further into the gloom. I looked over at Nico, who met my wary gaze. Then I noticed that Hyperion and Krios had disappeared. I turned back to Akhlys and opened my mouth to ask where they'd gone, but she spoke before I could, as if she'd been expecting that question.

"They are not mortal, therefore they cannot take this path," she said briskly. "Now move, I am not going to stop and wait for you."

Still gripping Nico's hand, I started forward, Nico matching my stride. Even though I was afraid of losing the goddess of misery in the gloom, I found I didn't need to. Where Akhlys walked, poisonous plants sprung up at her feet in surprisingly colorful hues for such a barren, grey wasteland we were in currently: purple, orange, and red. As I stepped over them, afraid of what would happen if I stepped on them, their sickly sweet scent wafted into my nose, making me gag and my eyes water.

The walk was short, something I wasn't used to down here. Like the inky fog back before we'd encountered the _arai_ , the fog here dissipated. This time, though, we were walking straight toward a peninsula that jutted over a pitch-black void. If I had thought the fog was dark, it had nothing over the darkness coming from the peninsula. It was so black, my eyes could barely even register that there was anything there. If there even was.

Nico and I slowed as we came out of the fog. Akhlys continued to the very edge of the peninsula, and turned to face us again.

"Welcome to the realm of Nyx," she told us with a flourish of her hand out toward the void. "The very edge of the earliest darkness." There was that wicked smile again, as if she was enjoying causing discomfort and displeasure. Of course, being the goddess of misery, I'm sure she did. "No need to be shy, come closer, dear ones," she cooed, beckoning us with her hand.

I swallowed hard and took a deep breath, glancing at Nico through the corners of my eyes. He seemed to be steeling his nerves, too. Together, we inched ever closer to the cliff. My grip on Nico's hand tightened as we approached. My lungs felt like they were constricting, like the air was being pulled right from them. This wasn't anything new to me, I'd experienced anxiety attacks worse than this, but it was still unpleasant and uncomfortable.

When we were standing as close as Akhlys was—which is to say, if she wanted to push us off right then and there, she would've succeeded easily—the goddess gestured downward. "Below lies Chaos." Then she pointed to something several yards below the cliff, on the other side of the wall of black. It was a different shade of black, which is the only reason I could even make it out. But only just. "And there, is where you are to go, through the Mansion of Night."

I heard Nico suck in a sharp breath beside me and glanced at him, keeping one eye on the door, afraid I might lose it if I looked away.

Akhlys gurgled, throwing her head back. "Yes, son of Hades, you have to make it through to get to the heart of Tartarus. I would wish you good luck, but I am the goddess of misery, I only wish you misery." And on that lovely note, the goddess turned and strode back the way we'd come, turning up those poisonous plants where her feet touched the ground.

"I'm guessing the Mansion of Night isn't a _good_ place," I finally said.

Nico looked at me and waited until I met his eyes, squeezing my hand tightly. "As soon as we land—that is to say, _if_ we even land—close your eyes tight and keep them closed."

"Until when?" I managed, though the terror levels were slowly starting to work their way up. My head was already starting to feel lightheaded, but that also could've been the effect of standing on the edge of Chaos, too.

"You'll know," he responded grimly. His grip on my hand tightened even more and glanced back at the doorway. "We'd better get a running start."

Swallowing hard, my heart hammering away at my sternum, I nodded. We backed up, keeping our eyes on the doorway. Then, on a silent three, we sprinted forward and jumped. The flight through the air was too fast, but agonizingly slow. I recalled the time I feel from the cliff on Mount Tam, Luke's tormented blue eyes as he watched me fall. The time I fell from the climbing wall at camp, Dan's worried brown eyes when I tried to tell him I was okay. And then the most recent fall I had, here, the thoughts of dying in such a place swirling in my head.

If we missed and kept falling, that was it.

Suddenly the ground was rushing up at us. I had to let go of Nico's hand as we landed so as not to injure myself, and then, remembering Nico's words, I slammed my eyes shut.

"Nico?" I called, holding my hand out.

"Here!" he responded just as our hands collided. I instantly grasped on and then we were running. I could tell as soon as we entered the Mansion of Night and understood why Nico had told me to keep my eyes closed. Even if he hadn't, my instincts would've screamed at me to because the feeling of foreboding and dread was so overwhelming. If I even thought about opening my eyes for a peek, the instinctual part of my brain shrieked at me not to, knowing that if I did, I'd go insane and most likely die.

We had to rely on our senses—feeling for cross-breezes, straining my ears to hear the echo of open space, sniffing out for the scent of monsters.

At some point, I started to hear the sound of a heartbeat. At first, I thought it was my own, because I was so fucking terrified, but as we continued to run, the sound reverberated in the structure we were in. It vibrated my very bones, clashing with my own heartbeat. It was disorienting, but reminded me of the dances I attended as a kid, with the bass shaking the walls and colorful lights flashing around and shadows jumping around on the dancefloor.

The beat grew ever louder—a good sign, since Akhlys had mentioned the "heart of Tartarus." The smell of smoke suddenly assaulted my nose only to be blown away by fresher air. Ha! I say "fresher." It was the same sulfurous air that the rest of Tartarus had, but it was better than whatever stale, stagnant, suffocating air resided in the Mansion of Night.

I felt the change in all my senses when we'd finally exited. The air didn't feel or smell so suffocating anymore. The heartbeat was almost deafening, but now that we weren't surrounded by walls, I didn't feel it so strongly in my body. That feeling, that _knowing_ to keep my eyes close didn't go away, however, Nico was slowing.

I wondered why when I heard what sounded like rushing water.

"The River Acheron," Nico said, as if reading my mind. A memory stirred.

"The River of Pain?" I asked.

Nico didn't answer, but as if on cue, the souls that'd been thrown in there—souls who had done such terrible things they weren't in the Fields of Punishment—started wailing and whispering.

_Murderers! Just like us._

Then they said the names, the ones I had been trying so hard to escape: _You killed him! You killed Lee! And Castor!_

I stumbled back, my eyes fluttering. Nico squeezed my hand so hard, my bones felt like they were fusing together.

" _Don't_ listen to them," he warned.

"Are they speaking to you, too?" I gasped as they continued: _If you had not gone to Kronos' ship that night, Beckendorf may still be alive. Let's not forget, your brother, Michael. Too slow to catch him. And Silena—you should've taken the burden of the spy from her when you had the chance._

"They are," Nico choked out.

_Let's not forget Luke. You let him die. Let him take on a burden that you knew would kill him! Murderer!_

"Where do we go now?" I practically yelled, hoping it would block out their voices, but also out of pure desperation. I would do just about anything at this point if it meant I didn't have to hear them talking anymore.

"We'll have to jump again," Nico shouted. He started pulling me back. That feeling of dread, of something about to attack me, increased a thousand fold, and I almost ran forward without him. "Go!"

Like before, we sprinted forward and leaped with everything we had. The water from the river rose up, as if trying to grab me, stinging my legs and ankles, but we soared right over. I tried to keep my hand in his as we landed, but ultimately had to let go, afraid I might break something.

Though the feeling was gone now, I was afraid to open my eyes. I grasped at the rocks on the bank of the river, gasping, trying to get my own personal demons under control at the mention of those I'd lost, those I'd let die. I was grateful for Rowan now more than ever. Who knew that my statement about them helping me through my shit would've been truer than anything I'd ever said in my life?

"Nico?" I asked. When no answer came, panic seized me. "Nico—!" I felt a hand on my shoulder and jumped a mile.

"You can open your eyes now," Nico assured in a gentle voice. Trying to get my breathing back under control, I slowly opened my eyes back up. They were sore from how hard I'd been squeezing them shut, but I was glad to have the sense I relied on so much back.

Nico was smiling. It was small, but it was the first true, real, genuine smile I'd seen since I'd first gotten here.

"We made it," he nearly laughed, most likely from hysteria at the absurdity of having made it through those obstacles.

A laugh did manage to escape my lips and I got shakily to my feet. "We did." I looked behind us. Nothing but the river and darkness beyond that. I let out a small breath of relief. The worse was far from over, but we'd made it through that relatively unscathed. I turned back to Nico. "Forward?"

Nico grimaced. "That's all we can do at this point."

We followed the sound of the heartbeats a few steps, over the ridge of black rock. I instantly felt the heartbeat in my bones, in my body, in my chest again as we got over the small hill. I lifted my arm to shield my eyes at the sudden onslaught of what I considered bright light compared to the darkness and gloom we'd been traveling in for who knew how long. When my eyes finally adjusted and I looked out across the new landscape, without thinking, I gripped Nico's hand again. He didn't pull away, to which I was grateful for.

It took me a moment to realize that it was coming from the entire landscape as if it were…alive, and breathing.

We carefully slid down to the bottom of the hill, looking out at this whole new terrain. But this one had to be the most disturbing and upsetting one yet. (Which was saying something, considering the one's we'd encountered.) It solidified the hunch I'd had about this place ever since we'd descended the cliff, making my head reel, my ears ring so loud I could barely hear the heartbeats, and my stomach roll with nausea.

Before us, under the same blood-red clouds, was a valley that was easily as big, if not bigger, than the San Francisco Bay. It glittered a strange purple color with dark red and blue lines that resembled scars running across it in wonky ways. The center of the valley was covered in what looked like fine black fuzz, but I realized with dread and a sinking heart, it was Gaea's army. They were gathered around a tiny dot in the distance. What I could only assume were the Doors.

We'd made it. We'd _actually_ made it. To the heart of Tartarus. To the Doors of Death.

* * *

"There's something I need to tell you," Nico whispered, suddenly urgent, breaking me from my trance. I looked over at him as his grip tightened on my hand. He kept his gaze on the horrific scene before us, but his eyes were far away.

"Nico?" I asked carefully. When he turned to look at me, his brown eyes were wide and almost wild with fear and guilt. It startled me so much, I stumbled back, pulling my hand from his.

"It's about Percy—" I jolted at Percy's name and instantly wanted to hear more, but he broke off on the account of Hyperion grabbing him roughly by the arm. Krios grabbed hold of my arm, pulling me further from Nico.

"Glad to see you made it!" Hyperion bellowed, grinning, his eyes flashing maliciously.

"What's going on?" I demanded, looking back and forth between Krios, Hyperion, and Nico. I tried to wiggle from Krios' grasp, but everything I'd just been through had drained me. I was running off fumes now, and it didn't help that I hadn't had fire water in a while, or food and actual water in what felt like forever.

Krios boomed a laughed. "You're an interesting demigod," he commented. "Gaea has told us much about you, but I still do not understand your strange habits."

I continued to struggle and glared at him.

"What are you talking about?" I snarled. "Let go of me!"

Hyperion patted Nico's head, who looked thoroughly offended. If this had been any other situation and we weren't about to go straight into a horde of monsters that liked to kill demigods and/or eat them, I would've laughed at his expression.

"You have risked so much for this boy, yet he has kept things from you," Hyperion said.

"You're the ones who wanted us to go through the Mansion of Night," I spat. "You're the ones who took me captive in the first fucking place! I don't know _what_ you're talking about."

"Keeping secrets about Percy's whereabouts?" Hyperion reprimanded mockingly. "Keeping secrets about Nico's visits to both camps? Why, I believe they'd consider that spy-like, wouldn't you say?" Hyperion looked up at Krios.

"Why, yes, Hyperion, you have an excellent point." Krios replied.

Hyperion looked back at me. "All for what?" He glanced down at Nico. "For this boy? Who's keeping a secret that you so desperately want to be in on?"

"What are you on about?" I demanded through gritted teeth, still trying to pull my arm from Krios' grip.

"You asked the son of Hades something before he ended up in Tartarus," Krios said in a suddenly serious tone.

My struggles slowed as I thought about what'd happened before I'd gotten here. It was shockingly and worryingly hard to do. I felt like I'd been in Tartarus for years now. But I strained, sifting through my murky memories, until…

_Ask Nico about your punishment._

I stopped struggling altogether, my body sagging as I remembered Nico's avoidance of the subject. His reaction when I mentioned Percy. I glanced over at the boy in question, who was looking at me with a concerned expression as he fought to free himself from Hyperion's grip.

Hyperion, on the other hand, grinned like he could read my thoughts. "Gaea has told you already. Your hunches have been correct, it involves our favorite demigod, Percy Jackson."

My eyes went back to Nico as my breath started coming in gasps. He'd stopped struggling, too. His face was pale and he looked a little sick. His gaze was suddenly fierce, though, when I met his eyes.

"I was going to tell you," Nico said in a desperate-sounding voice. His eyes slid up to Hyperion in a glare. "Before we were _rudely_ interrupted—"

Hyperion boomed a laugh. "Going to? After you brushed her off?" He looked back at me. "Would you like to know? I'm sure you've waited long enough for an answer. It's a pity it's coming from your supposed enemy and not your… _friend_."

I swallowed hard and moistened my lips, looking between Hyperion and Nico.

"I swear, I was going to tell you—" Nico tried again, but a sword's blade was at his throat, stopping him from speaking anymore.

"You had your chance," Hyperion growled. "It's too late for that. Your pitiful attempts at saving your friendship after a betrayal, as you have done in the past, son of Hades, are finished." The titan looked back to me, but kept the sword at Nico's throat. "Would you like to know why Dionysus ordered you to not speak to Annabeth or Percy about your punishment? To act like nothing happened? Why Nico won't tell you what this all has to do with Percy?"

Nico made a noise of protest, looking very sickly, though it was hard to tell with all the sulfur in the air and the red glow coming from where we were currently standing. However, Hyperion pushed his blade's point deeper, silencing him.

My mouth felt dry, so even if I had wanted to speak, I wouldn't have been able to. My heart was beating painfully in my chest, blood roaring through my ears. The hold Krios had on me never lessoned, despite having given up on struggling. Gaea's taunting words echoed in my mind. I _wanted_ to know, so badly. What did Percy do and why did that have anything to do with my punishment? And why _was_ Nico keeping it from me?

"Percy made the gods promise," Krios started.

"To claim their half-blood children by thirteen and recognize the minor gods," I managed. "Yes, I know."

Hyperion smirked. "But that is not the only thing he asked of them." He paused to let me take that in. Obviously, it had something to do with me, but I wasn't sure what. "He also asked them to pardon the friendly titan kind, as well as those demigods who had pledged themselves to Kronos. Mentioned you by name and everything, pleaded your case—the whole nine yards. He should know by now there are many ways to get past swears on the Styx if they are not specific enough."

I stared at Hyperion, my mind processing his words. "What?" I asked, my voice coming out in a hoarse whisper. "Nico, is that true—?" I started to inquire, but broke off for I had looked at him to see him avoiding my gaze. That was an answer enough.

An emotion washed through me, but I was unsure of what it was exactly. It wasn't anger, I didn't think. Perhaps bewilderment, hurt? All I knew was that I was left feeling breathless, lightheaded, and dizzy, like I was trying to pick up the broken piece of…something. I wasn't sure what yet.

I was supposed to have been pardoned? Did Percy honestly think that the gods were going to do as he asked? Just like that? Pardon the very demigods and immortals who had almost knocked them from their pedestals? And me, who had let it all happen? Had he even thought to ask? To check up on them? Or did he think that because I was back at camp, seemingly living there normally, that they'd followed through with their promise?

I lifted my gaze back to Hyperion. "What of the other demigods? The ones who had pledged themselves to Kronos?" I asked in a quiet, dazed voice.

"Executed, of course," Krios answered breezily. "You were a…special case."

"And the friendly titan kind—"

"Still in their prisons," the titan confirmed.

My gaze flickered back to Nico. Hyperion had pulled his blade away, and the son of Hades' head hung low.

Betrayal.

I finally managed to pinpoint what had hit me a moment ago. I felt absolutely and utterly betrayed. By Percy. By Nico. By my own father.

"Enough talk, it's time for us to deliver Nico to Ephialtes and Otis." Krios said. "Let's go. We wouldn't want to be late, now would we?"

Krios shoved me toward the horde monsters and the weird purple landscape.

"You're going to love it, son of Hades." Hyperion laughed, shoving Nico forward, too. "A grand finale!"

I looked behind me at Krios. "What about me?" My voice came out smaller and more scared-sounding than I had wanted it to.

Krios simply grinned at me, his eyes sparkling wickedly. I swallowed hard and quickly turned to face front again, hunching my shoulders.

This wasn't looking good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so…long chapter for ya'll. I know it's been a while. I apologize for that.
> 
> After break things kind of came at me in a whirlwind and I had to look up some details in HOH to write Tartarus somewhat correctly. I did change some things, minor, things to fit this better. Before I could even do the research, though, things got intensely busy with school—not just with homework either. My campus' climate was pretty tense there for a while, which was just stressful.
> 
> Anyway, it's finally here for you guys! The long-awaited chapter! I hope it lived up to your expectations and more!
> 
> I don't know when the next one will comes because I have a month left of my undergrad life and then preparing for graduation. So updates may be sporadic and/or few and far between. But after that things should settle down a bit for the summer. (Then it's off to grad school, but let's not think about that too much right now, for my sanity's sake.)
> 
> I do have some ideas for some one-shot things involving Luke and Tori, though, so those may get posted to tide you over until the next chapter for the main story.
> 
> Lastly, and I've been meaning to do this for several chapters now, [lucifersfavoritechild](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lucifersfavoritechild/pseuds/lucifersfavoritechild) has posted more stuff involving the AU I've created with Luke and Tori. [Orpheus and Eurydice](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9855905) and [Djinn Dreams](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10524030). Both wonderful and wonderfully written. You should totally go check them out!
> 
> Thanks to ALL of my readers, and reviewers, who have and continue to stick with me (to the end of the line). It means so much to me.
> 
> Title taken from "My Song Know What You Did in the Dark" by FOB (I hope I haven't used this song before, but even if I had, fuck it at this point. I just want to post.)
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading, truly,  
> TheBrightestNight


	34. Watch Me, I'm Falling, Watch Me, I'm Flying, Somehow Surviving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> _Wisdom's daughter walks alone,_  
>  _The Mark of Athena burns through Rome._  
>  _Twins snuff out an angel's breath,_  
>  _Who holds the key to endless death._  
>  _The victor's key, then to lose,_  
>  _To live or let go, one must choose._  
>  _Giants' bane stands gold and pale,_  
>  _Won through pain from a woven jail._  
> 

I barely even registered when we got to the horde of monsters, how they jeered, snarled, and hissed. Those that could speak shouted at us. But I ignored all of it, feeling empty, numb. Besides, we had a protective detail. The titans had their weapons at the ready, scanning for any monster that may try and attack us out of sheer spite or hatred. Hyperion was leading and Krios was taking up the rear again.

We navigated toward the doors, through this weird, pulsing, red, spongy terrain, scrambling over veins…that looked like an actual heart.

I was still reeling over what'd just happened, trying to compose myself, regain my sense of the world. I suppose I wasn't really one to talk as far as betrayals went, but I had come to trust Nico. He seemed to have simply not cared about my role in the Titan War and accepted me for who I was. He'd helped me through hard times and never judged me for anything. I thought we were _friends_.

Only to find out, in Tartarus of all places, from a Titan, no less, that he'd been keeping a secret that could've lifted my sentenced, could've freed me from underneath Mr. D's thumb. All for what? Why did he think he had to keep that from me? Did he think I was going to do something irrational? I mean…that wasn't actually far off the mark, but I wasn't stupid enough to not know that if I did and then was killed, I probably wouldn't have been granted access to Elysium, which is where I wanted to be. Well, that wasn't wholly correct, either. I wanted to be with Luke. Wherever he was. (Right now, that just happened to be Elysium.)

Anyway, it wasn't adding up. If we'd grown close enough, I would've thought Nico would've told me by now. Surely if he considered us friends, he would've at least thought about it.

And then there was Percy. It wasn't just that I was angry at him for simply assuming the gods would do what he asked when, I _thought_ , he knew what they were like, but it was the fact that this whole secret seemed to revolve around him. Sure he'd been the one to request I not be punished, but why did the titans make his role in this seem more important? Why did Nico always react the way he did when I brought up Percy? It couldn't have just been because of the information he was keeping from me, could it?

Maybe it could.

Nico sucked in a sharp breath beside me, breaking me from my thoughts. I looked to see where the danger was, but instead caught sight of the Doors. We were only a few yards away now, and I realized why Nico had gasped. They looked just like the doors to Olympus, right down to the art deco designs etched on the doors, only the colors were inverted. Instead of silvers and golds, it was iron and coal. They were being held down by large chains stretching from the top, down on either side of the doors. Two other titans I didn't recognize stood on each side, one foot pressed into the nail that kept the chains in place.

One of the titans, who stood on the right side was wearing black Stygian Iron armor, with a single diamond that shined in the breastplate. He wore a helmet shaped like a bear's head, but I could still see his glowing, white-blue eyes that could freeze the entire army before him from underneath his helm. His beard, of the same color of his eyes, was also visible. His sword was at his side, in its sheath, the same size as Hyperion's and Krios's. As we got closer, I could feel the cold radiating off him.

The one standing on the left side was also clad in black, but his armor looked more…rough, like volcanic rock. In the middle of his breastplate, a circle glowed like magma, swirling within. His helmet reminded me of a great white shark, and his eyes were also visible through his helm, glowing orange-red, also like magma. His beard was pitch black, and he, too, carried a sword the size of a surfboard. Where the titan on the right was ice, this titan seemed the complete opposite: fire, but from magma from within a volcano rather than fire itself.

As we approached, coming to a stop a few feet away from the doors, the titan on the right grinned, pulling off his helmet and tucking it under his arm. His hair was the same color as his beard and eyes. I was also stunned at how familiar that grin was. How, despite his scarred face…handsome this titan actually was. I wondered why that was, why my stomach churned at how familiar this _titan_ was, but my brain was sluggish from being in this place for so long, and my thoughts were cut off as the ice titan spoke.

"Brothers, you made it!" he exclaimed. The other titan removed his helmet as well, tucking it under his arm, too.

"Koios," Hyperion nodded to the ice titan before looking at the fire one. "Aigaios, it's good to see you again." He stepped aside, then, and gestured to us. "We have brought the packages, as Mother has asked."

The one called Koios looked straight at me, his grin becoming more malicious.

"Ah, a small family reunion," he commented. "How nice." Sarcasm dripped from his voice as he regarded me with those cold eyes.

I blinked, confused at first, but that stirred a memory and my lessons in Greek Mythology at camp came flooding back to me. With a shudder, I realized why this titan looked so handsome and why his smile reminded me of someone else I knew. Koios was my great grandfather, father of Leto, who was the mother of Artemis. And Apollo, _my_ father. My world swayed as my brain tried to process this and I fought not to take a spill.

"Are Ephialtes, Otis, and…" Hyperion started, trailing off as he looked at me before looking back at his brother, and continuing with, "The other one already on the surface?" I was almost glad for the irritation that came with his secretiveness (I was _tired_ of secrets, dammit!) for it gave my brain something else to focus on.

Aigaios nodded. "Yes," he rumbled, his eyes meeting mine for a fraction of a second. Then they were looking out at the writhing mass of monsters behind us. "Group D-44!" he shouted.

I turned to look—and good thing, too—as a group of 7 to 8 feet tall giant-looking monsters that seemed to be made from clay, each with six arms, eagerly stampeded through the other monsters, crushing _dracaenae_ and shoving hellhounds out of the way, up to the Doors. I squeaked as Hyperion grabbed me and pulled me out of the way as they stomped over where I'd just been standing. I caught a glimpse of Nico being held by Krios.

"Careful," Aigaios barked. The group tumbled over each other as they stopped, clutching little red tickets in one of their six hands.

"Earthborn fools," Koios muttered. I looked over my shoulder at him in time to see him roll his eyes. Then they were on Hyperion. "And to think, Mother insists we stay _down here_ and help everyone _else_ onto the surface." Koios scoffed. Hyperion's grip on my arm tightened slightly, but I didn't think he even realized he was doing it.

"Don't remind me," Hyperion muttered, glaring at the Earthborn getting to their feet.

"Remember your job," Krios growled. "Escort these two"—he shoved Nico toward the group just as Hyperion shoved me; one Earthborn each grabbed hold of our arms with two hands—"to the surface, and to Ephialtes and Otis."

"Don't kill them, don't let them escape," Hyperion added. I swallowed hard. If they had to be reminded not to kill us, I didn't exactly feel they could be decent guards. Then again, based on the grip the one Earthborn had on me, I didn't have a choice.

Aigaios slammed his thumb on the button of the elevator and the doors dinged before opening. It was such a pedestrian sound in such a terrible, mythical place, my brain felt like it was ready to short-circuit. The Earthborn shuffled in like some kind of optical illusion, shrinking so they could fit into the human-sized doors. The two with their grip on Nico and me went last. They put us into the middle of the group of monsters and turned to face front. Hyperion and Krios stood facing the doors. They looked oddly solemn as they watched the doors slide closed.

Then muzak started playing, a song I recognized as _Sweet Caroline_ by Neil Diamond—I struggled to keep my brain from shorting out again—and we were moving at an alarming rate. I jumped when the Earthborn standing in front of Nico and I slammed their shoulders against the doors forcing them shut again, for they'd started to come open. I glanced nervously at Nico, my hand twitching when I almost reached for his hand, but I quickly looked away and kept my hand at my side.

12 minutes. That's how long it took. Don't ask me how I knew that, how my sense of time after being in a magical place for so long worked so well in those Doors, but it did for that moment. It took exactly 12 minutes.

The ride up was exhausting. I wasn't sure why, but the further up we traveled the heavier my body felt. Maybe it was finally exhaustion from being in Tartarus without actual food or water catching up with me. Maybe it was the effect the Doors had on mortals. Who knew? But the ride was long and agonizing as I fought to stay conscious.

When the elevator stopped, my ears were ringing so loud I didn't hear the ding. I could barely see the doors open before me because my vision was covered in black and white static. My chronic pain, surprisingly, remained at the level it had been all through Tartarus. Nothing I couldn't handle.

I stumbled forward, breathing deeply through my mouth to regain my composure and not pass out. Not in front of all these monsters. There was absolutely no way I was about to let that happen.

I didn't even notice the air was musty and smelled like dirt until a few moments later, when the ringing stopped and my vision cleared. Though, it was dark where we were. Despite this, my eyes had no trouble adjusting. We'd been in darkness for most of our trip. I wouldn't be surprised if they would never adjust back to light again (though, this thought saddened me tremendously).

We were standing in what reminded me a Pantheon, but the walls were pitch black and carved with scenes of various types of death. Victims from a terrible sickness, from what I could tell, corpses on a battlefield, people being tortured, skeletons in iron cages, it went on. It was truly horrifying how many ways someone could die a horrible death. And to make it worse, the carvings were decorated with precious gems.

Above us was a domed ceiling, like in a Pantheon, with a waffled pattern of recessed square panels. They were different in that in each panel was something…they had Ancient Greek inscriptions.

"Stelas," Nico said, making me jump. I glanced at him. He was looking up at the ceiling too. "Grave markers."

I looked back up, following the grave markers to the center of the ceiling, where sunlight should've been let through. Instead, it was filled with an inky black stone. I looked behind us to see the now-closed doors, sitting on…something, surrounded by black rubble. There were chains holding them to the earth, like in Tartarus.

"That was an altar," Nico ground through gritted teeth. He'd turned to look at the Doors, too, his hands furled into fists. "To Hades."

I was about to ask him where we were, because it was clear he knew, when I realized there wasn't just us and the Earthborn here. There were two others standing off to the side in this cavern, and I'd only just realized they were there. I bristled when I saw them, but had no way of protecting myself or Nico, anyway.

One of the figures was human-sized, a woman. She was timeless, beautiful. But like a statue, her features were also hard and cold. Her eyes sparkled with a delighted malice, like she was eager to inflict pain onto us. She wore a flowy, sleeveless dress that looked like it'd been woven from gold. Her dark hair was piled atop her head in a cone shape, with diamonds and emeralds circling around it, like a weird Christmas tree. The last thing I noticed was the pendant she wore—the cord around her neck was set with rubies, but the pendant was the worst. One look at it and I was suddenly attacked with intense flashbacks from the Labyrinth.

I'd hadn't experienced something so intense and colorful in so long, I was reeling. By the time I was released, I was breathing hard, just on the verge of a panic attack. I turned away from both figures, wrapping my arms tightly around my chest and tried to get my breathing under control.

I felt a hesitant hand rest on my shoulder, but I turned to glare at Nico. With a small frown, he pulled his hand away, taking a step back, and looked down.

Once I'd gotten my breathing under control again, I straightened up. I didn't want to look back at those two figures, but I also wanted to know who I'd be up against should I need to fight. Not that I'd stand a chance in the condition I was in right now. Still, I had no idea who these Earthborn were supposed to deliver me to.

I only glanced at the other figure over my shoulder, through the corners of my eyes. They were big and tall, at least 20 feet tall. They wore some kind of cloak or robe that seemed to blend in perfectly with the shadows. From the opening in the robe, I could see odd scaly, dragon-like legs that were the color of ash. That was about all I could make out, though, because the robe covered everything else. Everything except bright, glowing white eyes, glittering coldly like a star.

"Ephialtes and Otis are waiting on the surface for the little one," Pasiphaë said, regarding Nico with those malicious eyes. Nico made a noise of protest, but thought best to not aggravate our captors. Then Pasiphaë's eyes were on me. "So is your surprise." Her smile was probably the coldest I'd ever seen, which was a feat in and of itself. I felt a shiver run down my spine, but it was overshadowed by my annoyance with everyone for keeping me in the dark about what was going to happen to me.

I mean, sure, Nico didn't really know either, but I _really_ didn't know. I didn't even know who was waiting for me on the surface!

One of the Earthborn shoved me toward a doorway that I swear hadn't been there before. It led into a dark tunnel I couldn't really see that far into. Pasiphaë was standing in front of it, like she'd teleported to the entrance from where she'd been standing a moment before.

Nico tensed and sucked in a sharp breath as we headed for the entrance. Pasiphaë's malevolent grin grew wider.

"Where are we? What's wrong?" I asked, ignoring my hurt feelings for now.

"This is the House of Hades," Nico whispered, keeping his eyes on the door before us. Pasiphaë turned and started into the tunnel. "In Ancient times the Greeks came here to speak with the dead. Dead ancestors—for advice, guidance. Upon entrance, you drink poison in order to protect yourself from going insane. Even if a person survived the poison, there was no guarantee they'd survive what the dead said to them."

"And what does that me for us?" I asked, trying not to let how scared I was show. But I was fucking terrified. The dead speaking to me? "We're already inside." I didn't even want to ask about the poison. How were you supposed to drink poison to keep from going insane? That didn't seem fair.

Nico held out his hand and finally looked at me with wide, scared eyes. Reluctantly, I took it. He squeezed it harder than I was anticipating, which only made me more worried about what was to come.

"Even with the poison, you'll still hear the voices of the dead," Nico explained in a low voice, almost numb like he'd just cut off his emotions, as if to prepare himself. "Being here will stir up your worst memories. You'll remember, see, hear terrible things from your past. Being here…makes your ghosts restless." I gripped his hand, my heart now pounding in my chest as we started through the small doorway. "Don't follow the voices. Keep hold of my hand."

For once, I was thankful we had an escort. Of course, that didn't do much good because the tunnels were so narrow, we were forced to go one-by-one. I went first, but kept hold of Nico's hand behind me. The rest of the Earthborn were either leading or following. Pasiphaë was, I assumed at the front. I couldn't tell anymore. There were too many Earthborn in front of me.

After a while, it felt too claustrophobic. I was just barely able to keep my breathing under control, to keep from panicking outright. It didn't help that the feeling of foreboding, of something bad just on the horizon rose inside me but never peaked. It just kept rising, sending my alarm bells into overdrive, my mind into a tizzy. I'd probably definitely die down here if I let myself lose control, which was becoming more and more likely.

To make matters worse, the voices came when I least expected it. A whisper, right in my ear. It sent chills down my spine and made me flinch to the side, away from it.

_Victoria Williams._

I bit my lip so hard, I tasted blood and squeezed Nico's hand. I stopped walking, unable to continue forward. Nico squeezed my hand. Good thing, too, because I almost let go of Nico's hand and sprinted down one of the many tunnels that branched from the one we were currently in.

_You will come to know the true meaning of sacrifice._

I let out a slow breath, expelling all the air from my lungs as Rowan's word's echoed through my head: _Something like that will take great sacrifices._

"Are you prepared for that?" I mumbled.

"What?" Nico asked.

I glanced behind me at him. "Nothing, I was just…" I trailed off when the voice spoke again, this time in my left ear. I cringed away, nearly falling into the tunnel wall.

 _Remember_ , it said, _that your memories of him do not make him real._

" _What?"_ I hissed. What the fuck did that even mean? Despite how scared I was, the voice's words only did to confuse me, which frustrated me. I was so sick and tired of vague warnings and secret shit. I wanted something straightforward for once, dammit!

Then I heard my mom's voice and nearly lost it.

_Tori!_

It was like she was looking for me. Like she'd lost me in a crowded mall or something.

I frantically looked around for her, nearly letting go of Nico's hand.

"Mom!" I called, stumbling forward a few steps, only to be held back by Nico.

"She's not here," he reminded me. "Don't go after the voice."

She called my name again and I became more frantic.

"Tori, don't—" Nico tried again but I pulled my hand from his grip to cover my ears. I sunk to my knees, curling in on myself, trying not to let the voice, _her_ voice, get to me. Tears burned my eyes. My heartrate was speeding out of control.

And then there were too many voices. My mom, calling for me, sounding lost and worried. Nico's voice continually reminding me that what I was hearing wasn't real. The Earthborn were growling agitatedly in odd, gravely voices. Pasiphaë's cutting, icy voice cut through the rest of theirs like a sword slicing a monster in half.

It was becoming overwhelming. The voices, the feeling of foreboding, my chronic pain, the claustrophobia of being in these cramped tunnels, being underground, having _been underground_ for so long.

I needed quiet, fresh air, sunlight.

I screamed.

I needed an outlet. I needed them to stop.

They did. But the voice of my mom didn't. It continued. If I was going to make it out of here alive and sane, I needed a distraction. So I did the only I could think to do with so much going on: I started singing.

Voices of the dead reminded me of those who had perished during the Titan war. The words flowed freely from my lips without any real thought: "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" from _Les Mis_.

My brother must've been on my mind.

As I sang, I felt my nerves start to calm, subside. My heartrate slowed to a pace I could handle, but that was definitely not healthy, still too fast. I pushed myself to my knees, arms falling to my sides as I fell into my usual trance when singing. Our convoy started moving forward again, at a slower pace.

I thought for sure because we were slower, we'd take longer to get out of the House of Hades, but just as I was finishing the song, a blast of fresh air hit me and I nearly started sobbing with joy. I wasn't out of the woods by any means, but I hadn't breathed fresh air or seen the sky in what felt like so long, I was ready to get out of these cramped tunnels, out from underground, even if that was the last thing I'd see.

The convoy was strangely silent as we exited. Pasiphaë stood at the entrance, watching as we walked passed. Her glittering, hate-filled eyes seemed to have dulled somewhat, which I thought was strange. That quickly changed when I passed her, though. She glared at me with such disdain I was shocked. I hadn't even ever spoken to her! Where was this coming from?

I quickly shuffled past, averting my eyes to the ground, but I could feel her eyes burning into my back until I heard the rumbling and crumbling of rock. When I looked back, there wasn't even any indication we'd just come up through a tunnel. We were standing in the middle of ruins—crumbling walls circled around limestone shells of buildings. We were currently standing in one of the buildings, but the roof was completely gone. All that was left were 2 and a half retaining walls.

From somewhere behind one of the crumbling walls, black tendrils were curling up toward the sky, reminding me of smoke or the ink of a squid.

Outside was warm. Very warm. And humid. I found I didn't mind right now. I was just glad I was above ground and the air no longer burned my nose, throat, and lungs. The day was bright, the sun high in the sky overhead. I scanned the surrounding area, which didn't look like any place I'd seen before. To be fair, though, I didn't travel much outside of New York.

"The House of Hades is in Epirus. Greece," Nico said beside me, also looking out at the landscape before us.

My jaw almost dropped as I scanned the landscape again. Greece? We were in… _Greece?_

The surrounding place wasn't the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, but again, anything that involved nature at this point was a sight for sore eyes. Being in a place like Tartarus for too long, with muddy memories of what fresh air smells like, what sun feels like, what nature looks like, would drive you mad before long.

Around the House of Hades were hills with boulders and stunted cedars. I could see heat waves shimmering up from the ground in every direction. Cicadas buzzed in the trees. It was almost deafening. A few hundred meters away from us snaked the greenest river I had ever seen, weaving in and out of the hills.

"That's the River Acheron," Nico said, making me jump. Was he a fucking mind-reader?

"From the Underworld?" I asked incredulously. I shouldn't have felt so surprised after everything else I'd seen, but to think that a river from the Underworld was in the mortal realm was…strange.

"Yes—" Nico started, but was interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps approaching. I was expecting another 20-foot-tall monster, but instead two 12-feet-tall monsters came up over the hill, toward us. Between them, they carried a large bronze jar. I was afraid to know what was inside.

What they wore was nothing I'd ever really associate with monsters. It almost made them look somewhat normal from a distance: black pants, with black t-shirts, and black shoes. _How_ they were wearing all black in _this_ heat was a mystery to me, but maybe because they were monsters, weather didn't affect them like it did me. The only thing ruining the look was the fact that the toes of their shoes had been cut away to reveal the head of yellow-eyed snakes protruding from the holes they'd made. And their hair. One had long, braided purple hair with something shining and winking at me in the sunlight. The other had long, braided green hair with the same shiny, winking stuff. It was too far away to tell what it was, though. Otherwise, they were totally identical in appearance.

I had to wonder if they'd planned to dress exactly the same, but going by the look of the purple-haired one they hadn't. Of course, that was completely speculation on my part.

When they were only a few feet away, they set the bronze jar down between them. The purple-haired one continued to scowl down at our convoy, while the green-haired one was bouncing with excitement. Now that they were closer, I realized that gold and silver coins had been weaved into their hair. Like…trophies.

No one said a word, but not a moment after they'd stopped and set the jar down, the Earthborn started moving. Three grabbed me and pulled me away from Nico, as the other three grabbed him and started dragging him to the jar. The purple-haired monster leaned over to remove the lid.

Nico started struggling when he realized what the Earthborn were doing.

"Tori!" he screamed, looking at me through flailing arms and legs. I flinched at my nickname. "Tori, _please_!" His wide, scared brown eyes met mine and I felt my emotions shift, like a switch had been turned off. My anger at him disappeared, replaced by a fierce protectiveness as I remembered how young he was. How unfair all of this was for a child. I'd been his age when I'd lost my mom in the most horrific way. To think, he'd been through so much already, only to have to endure more.

It just wasn't _fair_.

I managed to pull away from the Earthborn holding me, but it was more out of sheer dumb luck. They'd probably thought I wouldn't try to escape or something. I ran toward Nico and the other Earthborn, narrowly dodging the other Earthborn who tried to grab at me. Somehow.

When I got to their group, I tried to wrench their many hands from Nico's body, but they had six arms each and I was weak from starvation, dehydration, and pure exhaustion. It was a miracle I'd even managed to dodge the other Earthborn's attempts to get me back under control.

I reached for Nico's hand, instead, when I realized that my struggles were in vain.

"I'm sorry," I gasped, squeezing his hand. Nico opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, something hit the back of my head. I let out a cry of pain as stars flashed in my vision and my grip loosened. I fell to the ground as the group with Nico continued toward the jar. I could hear Nico calling my name again, but it sounded distant.

Pain throbbed in my head, and I tried to lift myself up, but my body felt a thousand times heavier, and almost uncontrollable. I only managed to get one arm underneath me and lift myself up about an inch before I collapsed again. I was just too weak, and that blow to the head definitely wasn't _helping_ matters. Darkness leeched into my vision, and with it blissful numbness.

I tried to fight it, but realized it was another losing battle and so let it overtake me.

* * *

I woke up slowly.

Despite how hard I thought they'd hit me, my head wasn't hurting our pounding at all. It was almost like I hadn't even been hit and instead had fallen asleep.

I was lying on something soft. Something soft and warm was covering me, which only confused me. I didn't think that captive accommodations by Earthborn were supposed to be _this_ comfortable. And surely, I wasn't _that_ important to be kept in such nice place.

I shifted slightly—still not fully awake and in full control of my body—only for my back to hit something. It was also relatively soft, but much warmer than whatever I was lying on and whatever was covering me.

I shifted again, trying to get my brain to wake up more. That's when I felt it. Something shifted behind me. I felt pressure on my waist—warm and…strangely comforting. So were the even breaths blowing onto the back of my neck.

My eyes snapped open, my brain booting up so quick, I had to lay there a moment and take it all in. Of course, like usual, I had to push away the prickles that invaded my mind, but once I'd done that, I took inventory of what I was seeing in front of me, the sensations I was feeling.

My view wasn't very exciting. There was a bedside table with a small lamp. Some wall and then what looked to be closet doors.

The soft warmth that surrounded me was actually due to the fact that I was lying in a bed. And the warmth from behind me, and around my waist, and the breath on my neck was coming from someone else—another body lying with me in this bed. I could hear their soft breathing, feel it on my neck.

My heart pounded so loud, it started drowning out the person's breathing. Carefully, I shifted so I could turn my head to see who it was.

I froze when I finally realized who was lying next to me, despite the darkness, who had their arm around my waist. My heart shot into my throat. Strangely enough, the hollow hole that'd consumed me ever since his death didn't expand. My demons didn't so much as cough. It was like…they weren't even there anymore.

No, that was wrong. Rather, it was as if they'd never existed to begin with.

But a different pain blossomed in my chest.

This couldn't be right.

I bolted up in the bed, putting one hand on the man's chest, using the other to grab the sheet as it fell to pull it up over my own chest. I was still, for some strange reason, dressed in my tattered clothes, but felt naked, exposed. I didn't like it.

My hair was still in a messy milk-maid braid (though, less than what it actually would've been considering what I'd just gone through because I used magic to help keep most of it in place instead of easily lost and broken bobby pins).

I looked around the dim room. Definitely a bedroom—closet to my left, on the other side of the bed was a similar bedside table and lamp, and then on the far right wall, the door to, most likely, a hallway. There was a door on the wall parallel to the bed. Probably a bathroom. In the corner of the right side of the room was a floor-length mirror. There were posters and pictures hanging on the walls, but I couldn't really make out the fuzzy blobs in the darkness.

The man next to me shifted and mumbled something. My gaze went back to him. I continued to press my hand against his chest, afraid of…something. I wasn't sure what, exactly.

_What the fuck was going on?_

The man groaned and shifted again, but I kept my hand firmly planted on his chest.

"Tori?" he asked in a groggy voice. I stared at him, feeling breathless and lightheaded. His eyes fluttered open and my breath completely stopped as his wintery blue eyes met mine. They were still sleepy, but they were the blue I'd come to know and love… _so much_.

When he saw my facial expression, he was instantly awake, seemingly unfazed by my post-Tartarus appearance. His eyebrows furrowed. He went to turn on the lamp but I pressed on his chest firmly and he fell back against the bed. When he reached for my hand, though, I quickly pulled away, turning to face front and pulling the blanket over me with both hands.

"Tori, what's wrong?" he asked as I heard the click of the lamp and soft, yellow light flooded my vision. I blinked a few times, squinting as my eyes adjusted.

I felt the bed shift as he sat up and I closed my eyes, letting out a small, shaking breath as he put his arms around me, pulling me into him. The foreign pain filled my lungs like air, even though the hole was no longer there. I felt tears burn my eyes.

I turned to face him just as he opened his mouth to say something, effectively cutting him off. I gazed at him for a long time before shifting so I could face him more fully. My legs brushed his. His hands stayed lightly on my waist as I reached up silently, brushing the hair from his forehead, following the curve of his eyes with my fingertips, underneath his eyes. I switched to my thumbs, gently stroking his cheeks, running my left thumb over the scar underneath his right eye a few times. Then I went back to my fingertips as I traced his jawline before stroking his bottom lip with my thumb.

I blinked and suddenly there were streams of tears rolling down my cheeks.

His hands were instantly caressing my face, gently wiping away my tears as they came.

"What's wrong?" he asked, frantically. "Are you hurt?" His eyes darted over my body, looking for any signs of injury.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't find my voice. It had abandoned me when I felt I needed it most. Instead, I cried harder and threw my arms around his neck, running my fingers through his hair, inhaling his sweet scent. I felt his arms come around me, holding me to him, gripping me tightly. He rubbed my back and whispered soothing things to me, none of which I understood because I was so caught up in the rush of emotions.

I couldn't tell if I was relieved, or happy, or sad, or all of the above. I could barely comprehend how I was even seeing him. Here. With me right now. This wasn't possible. It _couldn't_ be.

Eventually, he moved us back, toward the head of the bed. He moved some of the pillows, propped them up, so he could sit against the headboard. I shifted so I was lying on his chest, nuzzling my head into the crook of his neck, an arm wrapped around his torso, gripping at his shirt. He kept his arms around me, gently rubbing my back, my arm.

I closed my eyes and willed myself to sleep, hoping I'd wake up…not here. Anywhere but here. He fell asleep before I did. I listened as his breathing slowed and his hands came to rest lightly around my waist. His head lolled, rested on top of mine.

I listened to his even breathing, unable to sleep myself.

_This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be real._

At some point, my eyes drooped closed, and I fell into a light, fitful sleep. I had awful dreams of people calling for me, worried voices telling me to wake up. Pained and anguished voices asking me to come back.

When I finally woke up, I was still in the same soft bed. Light was filtering through the blinds over the windows, telling me it was day. I sat up slowly and looked around. Still the same room with the same floor-length mirror in the corner. I was also still in the same ragged clothes.

The man appeared in the door, and it stunned me again. My voice fleeing. He closed the door and approached with a gentle smile and caressed my cheek, sitting down on his side of the bed.

"I sent Diana off to school," he said, and I jolted at the mention of my mom's name. Who? He'd said school, so a child? Whose child? Certainly not… _ours_. He continued, "Thought you could use the rest." His thumb brushed underneath one of my eyes and his smile dropped. "Though, it looks like you could still use some."

I reached up slowly, caressing his face, brushing my thumb over his scar. He closed his eyes and sighed. I explored the rest of his face with my fingertips again, tracing the arch of his eyebrows, down and around to underneath his eyes, the bridge of his nose, the curve of his cheeks, and when I got to his lips, my fingers ghosted there, just barely touching them.

He reached up to gently take my hand before leaning forward. My eyes automatically slid closed and I felt his lips press against mine. I responded instinctively, a thrill running through me. My heart beat wildly out of control.

I thought I'd be able to make this moment last forever, get lost in it, but the dreams of those voices calling my name suddenly came back to me with a vengeance. I could distinguish each and every individual's voice: Will, Austin, Kayla, Reed, Cressida, Lyra, Viola, even Nick. And Dan. My brother. They begged me to come back, to return.

With a gasp, I pulled away, looking at the man before me.

This wasn't real. _They_ were real. Those voices from my dreams. They were waiting for me. I needed to…needed to get back to them.

Without a word, I pulled away from him and slipped off the bed, going to the closed bedroom door. Before I could make it even five steps, he'd grabbed hold of my hand. I froze and turned to look at him over my shoulder. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, blue eyes pleading.

"Don't leave me," he whispered, squeezing my hand. My heart ached. That wasn't fair!

"I'm just…going to get a drink of water," I managed, breathless. I had to continually remind myself why I needed to go. Besides, this wasn't real.

 _It could be._ A small voice whispered. _If you just stayed._

I tried to shake it off. There were people who needed me out there. I needed to go.

I turned and pulled my hand from his grip, walking quickly to the door and wrenching it open. But I froze when I saw what was on the other side: a black void stretched out before me, proving to myself even more that whatever this was wasn't where I belonged.

My pause was enough. I felt him come up behind me, wrap his arms around my waist, rest his chin on my shoulder, kiss my neck. I kept my eyes on the blackness, about as dark as the void in Tartarus that sat before Nyx's realm, that led straight into Chaos.

"Stay." His voice was calm, like what I was seeing and what he was seeing were two different things. "You'd be happier here. With me. And our kids."

I blinked and suddenly the hole in my chest had returned, so had my demons. They growled and shrieked, clawing and shaking their cage as I struggled with this decision. The grief, the loss returned and tears flooded my eyes, spilled over my cheeks.

"I miss you," I whispered, closing my eyes, but keeping my hand on the doorknob, afraid if I didn't, everything would disappear. Including myself.

"Then stay." His arms around me tightened.

I thought of my siblings, the very few friends I'd made back at camp. "I can't."

"You'd have everything you'd ever want, Tori."

"But Gaea," I managed. "Her army. I can't just let them…" My voice trailed off. What role was I to play in this? Seriously, I didn't think I meant that much to…either of them, the gods or Gaea.

"They pulled you into this, you don't have to follow through." His voice was melodic, soft. It contained no bitterness or anger, something I would expect from…from Luke had he been talking about all this demigod shit. It released me from the spell just enough for me to think clearer.

"But…the gods—" I started.

"I don't care about them," he stated simply, no inflection in his voice.

I sucked in a breath, closing my eyes for a moment, before letting it out slowly. Everything became crystal clear and I realized my decision. I felt the hole in my chest expand, but not in its usual way, like it was going to consume me. No, instead it was relieving. It had been knotted into a tight, painful ball, but was finally releasing its grip.

My grief, my loss was still there (as they always would be), but they no longer dominated a spot in my chest.

The demons in their cage shrunk and quieted. There were still things I needed to handle, but right now, everything was clearer than it had ever been since Luke's death.

I'd finally understood. I'd finally accepted. I'd finally let go.

"You know I love you," I said, opening my eyes again.

"As I love you," he murmured in my ear.

I nodded, keeping my eyes on the infinite blackness. Without another word, I stepped forward, out of his arms and toward the edge of the door.

"Tori," he said, almost in a warning tone. I stopped momentarily, but didn't dare look back. "You don't have to go."

I took a deep breath and said, "I do." before stepping off the ledge and falling into darkness.

* * *

When I woke again, I was standing in the empty Apollo cabin. Sun shone through the windows, casting the shadows of the window panes onto the floor. The lights were off, but the sunlight was enough to illuminate the room because it was mostly painted in light colors.

A small breeze blew through the room and I heard what sounded like someone walking over gravel. I quickly spun around to come face to face with Gaea again.

I felt anger build up inside me and before I knew what was happening, I was yelling at her, "What the fuck was that?"

Gaea's sleepy eyes regarded me with what felt like indifference. At the very least, she didn't react to my anger at all.

"A test," she said and began floating around me. I turned as she moved, I wanted to keep my eyes on her at all times. "I needed to see, to know if you were strong enough to let Luke go."

"But a few months ago you were bartering his soul to get me to join you," I snarled, annoyance creeping in alongside my anger.

"Things have changed since then," she responded flippantly. "You know it, and I know it, too. He can _remain_ in Elysium for the time being." Gaea paused then and I swear her smile grew just ever so slightly bigger. "What I am offering you now is much better"—I snorted—"because you will have the power to bring him back yourself."

"I know," I reminded her. "You were _so kind_ as to make me aware of my… _gift_."

Gaea waved one of her hands noncommittally. "Without having to sing for the Lord of the Underworld, or worry about losing Luke for good should you look back at him before both of you exit the Underworld."

I glared at her flatly. "That sounds too good to be true."

"So does the fact that you've been considering joining my side," Gaea shot back. "If I recall correctly, you said you'd been thinking about it since the day I offered. Yet you still act as if you are _so loyal_ to those wretched gods."

I crossed my arms. So she had been listening, keeping tabs on me. "What's the catch?"

Gaea turned to face me. Her sleepy smile seemed more sinister somehow. "No catch."

I highly doubted that, but I didn't press. It was obvious she wasn't going to tell me. "The gods _are_ better. I _hate_ them with my entire being, but they are…better." The word still tasted bitter in my mouth. My frown deepened when I remembered why I'd ended up in Tartarus in the first place.

Gaea chuckled, sending shivers down my spine. "Why don't I give you a little more… _incentive_ , then?"

Before I could say anything, let alone protest, the scene around me melted into a familiar dining hall on the _Argo II_. There were large, circular screens to my right, showing Camp Half-Blood and my heart ached, longing to be back home again. I thought of my siblings, and silently promised I'd do everything in my power to return to them.

To my left was a door that led off into a long corridor. Dominating most of the room was a large dining table with seven very comfortable chairs surrounding it (I knew because Leo had let me sit in them one day). The magic bronze plates I recognized from camp were sitting in front of the people in the chairs, but the food on them was untouched.

The people sitting in the chairs were the seven demigods of the prophecy. I recognized Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Leo, and the Roman girl, Hazel, but there was a large Asian boy with a baby face, probably around sixteen, that I didn't know.

"I disagree," Percy said, pulling me into their conversation. Or, rather, by the looks of everyone's faces, their argument. "She's my friend. Not only that but she's obviously part of the prophecy, which means she's important."

I was unsure how to feel or what to think about his declaration. He was arguing for my sake, which was nice of him, but after finding out what I had from the enemy, I wasn't sure what to make of Percy anymore.

"I agree with Percy," Annabeth said. "Part of the lines of the prophecy mentions a 'victor's key.' Victoria means victory."

"But the whole line is 'the victor's key, then to lose,'" Jason argued. "And that's mentioned right after the angel whose breath may be snuffed out holding a key to endless death. Maybe they hold the same key and we have to choose."

"I think Jason's right," the Asian kid chimed in. "Not to mention the line, 'To live or let go, one must choose.' The prophecy is telling us itself that we have to make a choice, we can't choose _both_ of them."

"And I say that we choose Nico," Hazel said.

"So do I," Jason agreed.

"Jason, come on," Leo said, surprising me. Despite us being friends, I thought for sure he'd side with Jason, just because they seemed closer. Besides, they were part of the Seven. I wasn't. "There's got to be a way. We've found ways before."

"The prophecy sounds pretty resolute," Piper said, but she didn't sound too sure.

"Prophecy's mean next to nothing," Percy said. "We don't know what those lines could mean specifically. We only have a general idea."

"Which is why I think we should stick with just rescuing Nico," Jason rebutted. "We don't know what 'let go' means. It could mean death, yes, but it could mean something else entirely. There's no guarantee that if we don't choose Victoria, that she's going to die. That's just an assumption."

"Still, we're not even going to try and help her?" Annabeth objected. "There's got to be some way. She's not even that far from where Nico is."

"We can't afford to spend half of our energy and resources on her. Rescuing both of them would stretch us really thin, something we can't afford," the Asian boy said. "And, Annabeth, you're going to be on that solo mission, right? That means we'll be down a person. And I imagine we'll need some of those resources to come get you when you've finished. It's too risky to leave you stranded while we're getting Victoria."

"Frank has a point," Piper agreed. "You're one of the Seven of the Second Great Prophecy. Victoria isn't."

It got really quiet after that. Percy gripped Annabeth's hand underneath the table. No one made any more objections, though none of them looked super happy with their decision. Percy, Annabeth, and Leo, especially. Jason looked upset, but I think it was more because he'd have to have that argument when he expected for a unanimous decision.

"Okay," Annabeth finally breathed in a small voice. "We've got a long journey ahead." She paused and squeezed Percy's hand. "Majority rules—we save Nico."

The scene melted and I was back in the empty Apollo cabin with Gaea again. She was staring at me with those unnerving closed eyes and small smile. I stared back unseeing, needing to take a moment and process. I still wasn't quite sure what to feel. That Asian boy had a point: it would be too much for only six of them—if Annabeth was gone on whatever solo mission he'd mentioned—to save Nico and me, especially if they encountered other roadblocks and obstacles. As demigods, we usually always did.

They'd argued about it, and it was nice to know that I still had what little friends I possessed before getting thrown into Tartarus. At the same time, Jason's mistrust had guided his decision, which ultimately became the final decision.

It was just too complicated, I couldn't…let my emotions get the better of me. I knew Gaea had shown me those images in order to rouse me, but I was done letting my emotions control my actions. They were good for providing strength when I had none, inspiration for my songs, but when it came to decisions, they were very misleading. I needed to think with a clear head in order to complete my plan.

"Either way, you must make a decision," Gaea said, breaking me from my thoughts. I blinked and had to turn to face her, for she'd been walking around me and continued to do so. Her voice sounded like a whisper when she said, "Quickly."

I got sudden chills, like my body temperature had suddenly drastically dropped. I hunched my shoulders and wrapped my arms around myself, rubbing my upper forearms with my hands. When I blew out a breath, it condensed. It conflicted with the sunlight streaming into the cabin.

I looked back at Gaea, wondering what she was doing. I had to grit my teeth to keep them from chattering. My body was starting to shake so hard now, I thought my knees might collapse. The more I thought about the cold, the more it affect my body.

"Your time is running out," she told me ominously.

"W-w-wh-what-t?" I struggled to get out, sinking to my knees and curling into a ball. Why was I so damn cold all of a sudden?

"Another test," she said, her tone amused. I exhaled sharply in annoyance. Gaea continued, "So answer me, will you join my side or perish? Either way, you will have to face what I have set up for you, my dear."

I was getting colder by the second. Still, I took a breath and exhaled fully before looking up at Gaea to meet her closed eyes, and gave her my answer.

All she said was, "Very well."

I blinked, and suddenly I was lying on my side in a place that reminded me of the ice room I'd encountered in the Labyrinth. Our group, including Luke and two other demigods, had been knocked out and then taken to a room that'd been coated in a thick layer of ice. It was like sitting in a freezer.

Only, where I was now, seemed worse. Colder. And smaller.

I sat up, shivering violently, and looked around. I was in a tiny room, completely surrounded by a thick layer of ice—the floor, the domed ceiling, and the perfectly circular, continuous wall surrounding me. It was so thick that I couldn't really make anything out outside of where I was. Though the ice was clear, my vision was warped. Where my skin touched the ice, it felt like it was burning. I had to shift to be able to sit in a way that caused me the least pain. (On top of my chronic pain.)

How was I supposed to get out of _this_? I had none of my weapons and barely any room to even _move_. And, was it just me, or were the walls closing in? I watched in horror as the walls thickened slowly, but steadily. The temperature dropped so fast, my ears popped and my lips cracked. I felt the pain of a split lip and the warmth of the blood on my lips before it froze.

_Warmth!_

Oh, of course, how could I have not realized that sooner? Though, it was hard to even think of any sort of warmth in a place like this. I was running out of time, though, I was literally going to freeze if I didn't _do_ or _try_ something.

I looked down at my rune, thinking about the new magic I'd been trying with Lou and Leo before the other shoe had dropped. I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing (and not succeeding) and focused on thoughts of the sun—the warmth of its midday heat during the middle of summer at Camp, the way it glittered on the water of the lake or the Sound, the warm breezes that blew through the trees.

My body grew warmer, my breaths stronger. I opened my eyes again, keeping those thoughts in my mind. The walls had come even closer, but the ice melted as it came close to my body. I pressed my palms against the circular wall, water hissing and steaming as it came into contact with my skin. With my breath stronger and more regular, I decided to sing, not sure what it was going to accomplish, but hoping it would help melt the ice faster than it was forming.

And so, I sang of my mom.

My grief and pain from her loss, and never overcoming my hatred toward my father for her death. I focused on the intensity of those emotions and let it fuel the warmth that I needed to melt the ice—both the warmth of love for and from my mom, and my anger toward Apollo.

My body was running so warm, I hadn't even noticed I'd melted all the ice until I opened my eyes and realized I was sitting in the middle of a cage. I did a quick once-over as I kept singing, not wanting to give the ice any way to start reforming, and realized it was made from the earth. I wasn't sure where the ice had come from, but it was clear who'd created the cage.

Still singing, I reached out to grasp two bars right next to each other, switching from the heat of my grief, pain, and anger to all the moments I missed her. The key changed, the song slowing and becoming wistful and full of longing. I felt the bars start to soften, and by the time I finished the song, they were basically putty in my hands. I easily pulled them apart, making a hole wide enough for me to easily slip through.

Then I was out, and I couldn't believe it. I had to take a moment to catch my breath and take it all in. I looked down at my hands, which were tingling, not believing that the power of my voice could help me achieve something that felt so overwhelming at first.

My heart was hammering in my chest, my whole body buzzing with energy, and for once, I didn't feel like I was about to break down into an anxiety attack. For the first time, I _felt_ as powerful as the gods thought I was.

I looked around, to try and gather my bearings, but didn't get too far for I saw my weapons lying neatly laid out a few feet in front of me. I did a quick sweep around me to see if there were any booby-traps. When I determined there weren't any, I carefully stepped down from the alter-like thing my cage had been on and approached, keeping on high alert and glancing around every now and again. When I got to them fine, I delicately reached forward to grab my sword. Still nothing.

I quickly attached it to my waist, its familiar weight on my hip comforting after so long and in a place where my alarm bells never rested. I snatched up my dagger and attached it to the other side of my waist, before grabbing my bow-ring and slipping it onto my left middle finger. Funnily enough, there was also a bow and quiver of arrows. Not questioning it, suddenly feeling like I was stocking up for a reason, I swiftly slung the quiver over my shoulder and turned to do a full scan of the area.

I was inside a room with three low walls, an almost fourth wall, and no ceiling. The walls were probably reached just about my height, maybe a few inches shorter. The walls wrapped around, starting a fourth wall, but leaving a large opening like a doorway. From there, a stone staircase led down into what looked like a field with sad grass, like a thinning hairline (grassline?). A few feet in front of the stairs stood a white-stone pedestal, but nothing was resting on top of it.

I continued forward, through the doorway and down the steps. The room I'd been in was resting on a larger rectangle, made from stones stacked on top of each other and held together by cement (or your Ancient Greek equivalent). On either edge of the platform were two tall pillars. On the ground, next to the staircase was another pillar. And completely surrounding the large, rectangular field I was in that held this room and its platform were faded, eroded-away pillars, evenly spaced.

To my right were fully intact pillars, with a large decoration stone across the tops. In front of one of the pillars was a small statue on a pedestal of a man simply wrapped in cloth, stepping forward, hand stretched out, as if calling for someone, or in warning.

And beyond the field were more ruins. I couldn't see past the walls that surrounded this area, though. Even though they were probably half as tall as they had been, and crumbling.

Parallel to the stairs leading up to the platform were iron gates, presumably leading in and out of this place. They were closed currently, wrapped with chains and locked with a large, heavy-looking padlock. There was a sign hanging on the doors.

I heard something shift from behind me and swiveled around in time to see a _huge_ figure straighten up from behind the small room I'd just come from. It appeared they were sitting on the edge of the platform on the complete opposite side to where I was standing. Though, how I'd missed them before this was baffling, considering their sheer size.

I wasn't sure what was more disturbing, though, the fact that I'd missed this giant monster, or that he was _pitch black_. He reminded me of the void I'd seen above Chaos, but something about this darkness seemed oppressive in a way the void hadn't been. That void in Tartarus stole my breath, but this void seemed…crushing and cold.

Now that I was paying attention, I could feel the cold radiating off the monster's body. I could see where the hot air met its cool skin.

He rose to full height, then, and I stumbled back, my heart stuttering. He easily reached 20 feet (like the one in the House of Hades). Though his skin was dark, the sunlight hitting his legs cast a strange reflection that my brain interpreted as scales. That's when I realized that he was wearing armor just as dark as his skin, most likely made with Stygian iron. He had a bow slung over his shoulder, twice the length of the tallest pillar. The arrows in the quiver on his back were the size of street lamps and also black.

"Very _clever_ , daughter of Apollo," the monster spoke with a voice like ice cracking on a lake. It made my hair on the back of my neck stand on end, lit my nerves on fire. It was also strangely deep, resounding. "But singing songs will only get you so far." He turned to face me and the only reason I could make out his face was the fact that the sun was throwing all the contours of his nose, cheeks, forehead, and lips into relief. His eyes glittered like onyx. Everything about this monster unnerved me. I didn't like the aura he radiated.

"You seem confused," he commented, his lips moving into what I thought was a smile. Probably not a very nice one, either. I didn't answer, just continued to stare, trying to process, get over the feeling he was giving off. The monster boomed a laugh. "I am Astarius"—he said his name with some sort of sarcasm, like he was sharing an inside joke—"the Bane of Apollo. Everything I am is designed to _kill_ your father."

I tried to think back to my Ancient Greek Mythology lessons at camp. Bane of Apollo? Banes of the gods?

Instead of my lessons, Jason, Piper, and Leo's story came flooding back to me…at least, the parts I remembered. Like the giant they encountered. Created by Gaea and Tartarus to oppose the gods. I focused back on Asterius, my mouth hanging open. A giant? He was a _giant_?

I felt my knees weaken and nearly collapsed, realizing the cage hadn't been my test. _This_ was my test. A _giant_ was my test. Astarius, Bane of Apollo, was my test.

* * *

I did the natural thing when faced with a giant who was designed to destroy your godly parent: I asked a stupid question.

"How can you stand in the sun, then?"

That seemed to take Astarius back a little. Although, with him, it was hard to tell since my brain couldn't physically comprehend his…everything, he was so dark.

"Your father may be the god of the sun," Asterius sneered, "but the filthy humans' conception of him is that he is a star. Whereas _I_ am a black hole. I am what is left of dead stars. The _sun_ , your father's powers, do not affect me." He scoffed and waved one of his huge hands. "Besides, with the gods' schism between their Roman and Greek selves, he is out of commission anyway."

Despite the situation I was in, I wondered what the giant was talking about. Maybe if I got him to talk longer, I'd be able to figure out a plan, too, because if I remembered correctly, only demigods and gods working together would be able to defeat a giant. Currently, I was fresh out of gods (not to mention the fact that none of them would _ever_ come to rescue the likes of me). And anyway, if they were truly incapacitated as Asterius was saying, it didn't matter either way.

"Schism? What…are you talking about?" I asked, trying to sound demanding.

Asterius laughed again, shaking the ground, making the old ruins crack and crumble.

"I am surprised by how little you know, demigod," he said. "Even Mother has kept things from you. Your… _friends_ , the seven half-bloods you sent on the foolish quest to stop us, started a war between the Greek and Roman camps. Because the gods are Greek and Roman in the same forms, and because their Greek and Roman children are fighting against each other, those two sides are now fighting against one another, causing the gods to become confused, easily irritated, and utterly useless. Not that they were of much use before. They are in _agony_ , currently.

"But enough about inconsequential things," he said, waving his hand like he was swatting away a bug. "It's time to see what you're made of."

I was climbing up the locked gate that'd been behind me before I had time to give my body command to. I hit the ground running, immediately turning to my left and sprinting down a long street, still in ruins.

I knew that he could take a step and be right next to me, but I had to try _something_. I needed to find a place to hide, stall, so I could think of a plan. Though, I was fucking pissed. If this _was_ my test, how did Gaea expect me to win? If only a demigod and a god working together can defeat a giant, where did she think I'd find a god that wasn't currently fighting within themselves? If I even had a god that'd come help me?

So what even was the point of fighting if it was going to be a losing battle?

I couldn't think about this too much more, because I heard him take a step and shake the very ground. I forced myself to look behind me for a hot second—the giant was too close behind me—before facing front and pushing myself harder, dodging and weaving through the rest of the ruins. There were more outside of whatever field I'd been in. I almost thought this was some Ancient Greek city.

There were a lot of closed off areas with metal gates, so I decided to just go for it and started climbing one. I found it easier than I thought, but my life was also in danger, adrenaline rushing through my veins, and my ADHD had kicked in. I landed and kept running, weaving through the walls of this place that reminded me sickeningly of a maze, though much smaller and less confusing. Places were sectioned off like rooms with stone walls, but no ceilings.

I ducked in between two walls close together that provided shade and a hiding place. Being the bane of Apollo, I was afraid it'd make me easier to sense for Asterius, but at least I got a moment of reprieve to think of a plan. From what I could tell, it sounded like the giant had stopped. I'd somehow, by some miracle, managed to lose him.

I thought about my sword, because it was the second most comfortable weapon I used. But since I didn't know what would actually damage the giant, I didn't want to risk getting in too close and then getting hurt or caught because my blow didn't hurt him. So, I'd start with my bow and arrows, try and get a shot of him from a distance. I let my ring spiral out and knocked an arrow.

Just in time, too, because as soon as I'd done that, Asterius's voice said from behind, "Found you."

I gasped and spun around, looking up to see him leaning toward me. I fell into the wall behind me, shocked that my usual sense hadn't warned me of his approach. Now that I was aware of it, I realized that that part of me, the part that seemed to be able to sense when something was going to happen felt strangely numb, like someone had injected Novocain in just that area. It was uncomfortable and I didn't like it at all because I'd relied so much on that sense, but I didn't have time to focus on that right now.

Blinking away my daze and trying to push down the uncomfortable dulled feeling, I raised my bow and arrow, shooting an arrow into one of his eyes. He let out a horrible shriek and quickly pulled back as his hand clawed at his face. I swiftly ran in the opposite direction of him, having to let my bow spiral back into a ring before launching myself over one wall, running toward the next, and pulling myself up over that one, too, before running into yet another little maze-like area.

So he could be hurt, but I'd hit an already, vulnerable and sensitive spot. I still didn't know how fast he could heal or if I struck at his extremities if that would hurt him at all. He'd said he was like a black hole, so I imagined that also meant his body had properties like a black hole, too. If I was going to test this theory, though, I'd need to shoot an arrow at his legs.

This next little area didn't have near as many hiding spots, but did have a small building. While going inside may give Asterius the opportunity to crush me, I didn't have much other choice. At least it was a hiding place.

I stood against the wall, looking out the doorway while trying to stay hidden. I'd let my bow spiral back out and knocked two arrows. I saw his foot step into my line of view and without even hesitating, not being able to trust my sixth sense—if you will—anymore, I let my arrows fly.

Unlike his violent reaction from the arrow to the eye, this time he let out a small grunt, like he'd just been poked with a dull stick rather than shot with two arrows. I watched in horror as his skin absorbed them. _Definitely_ like a black hole. I wondered if that meant if I got too close to him, the gravity of his body would suck me in. Would I be consumed by his skin?

The thought alone was enough to make me cringe. It sounded like a horrible way to die. There was no way I was going to let that happen. Honestly, I rather he step on me or shoot me with one of those ginormous arrows of his.

Speaking of, the roof above me shattered as three arrows broke through and punctured the dirt at alarming speeds. The closest one was mere inches from where I stood. I couldn't help the sharp squeal that escaped my lips at this. I heard the sound of his bow string being pulled taught and quickly dove out of the little building just as another arrow shot through the walls, completely destroying the building. The walls crumbled like dominoes.

I heard Asterius laugh and looked up in front of me to see him smiling, his bow and arrow pointed straight at me. I let my bow spiral back into a ring and held my breath, watching his hand carefully. I had to time this just right or I was a goner.

Hoping that I could do this without the help of my precognitive abilities, I waited. I saw the subtle change in his body and rolled out of the way just as the arrow impaled the soft dirt with a thud. High on the fact that I'd managed another feat, I started sprinting again, listening for the sound of a snapping bow string and dodging that way since, because of his sheer size, there was no way zigging and zagging was going to do me any good.

I entered a different courtyard-like place and saw a ramp right up to the top of the wall. It was risky, going to higher ground, making myself an easier target, but I waited until he'd shot another arrow to get onto the ramp so I'd have the time it took him to draw his arrow. I jumped off the edge of the wall just as another arrow flew over my head. Before me stretched a large, grassy field.

 _Perfect_.

If I couldn't beat him with speed or with weapons, then I'd have to use my rune and my voice. Maybe then, I'd be able to weaken him enough that my weapons might stand a chance. I needed to get my sword to somehow manage blows without getting sucked into his skin. That way, I'd stay close, not giving him a chance to use his bow and arrows.

There was a line of trees to my right and I quickly veered into them, stopping behind me and catching my breath as fast as I could so I could sing. I felt the ground shake as Asterius stepped out into the field. I heard him pull his bow string, and though I wasn't nearly ready, I closed my eyes and started to sing.

I knew I needed something emotional, something that not even a giant could resist falling to his knees over and sobbing because of the emotion behind the song.

And so, I sang of Luke.

My grief and pain from his loss, and the pain and anger of having to live without him, to finally coming to accept his death. My love for him.

The same warmth that was there when I was trying to melt the ice surged through me. The tears that had escaped as I sang evaporated right on my cheeks. I heard the trees groan and leaves rattle and was bathed in an intense heat. I opened my eyes to see the trees had moved their branches to let the sunlight bear down on me. Except instead of absolutely roasting or bursting into flame like an ant underneath a microscope, it gave me even more strength. My body hummed like it had when I escaped the cage.

My voice grew stronger, louder. I reached for my sword, unsheathing it to see it was glowing red- and white-hot, almost like it had reverted back to molten Celestial bronze and needed to be cooled. Yet, when I reached up to brush my fingers over it, it was cool to the touch.

Still singing, I calmly walked from the small encampment of trees. The sun's rays followed me, setting the grass on fire. Asterius had fallen to a knee, gripping his bow in one hand. An arrow lay on the ground in front of him. He struggled to get to his feet, but seemed to be having trouble. Even so, before I could run forward to strike—which meant I'd also have to stop singing for a moment—he managed to get to his feet, though it looked like he was fighting his body.

He nocked another arrow, but I kept singing, staring him down, and watched his aim wobble. I tried not to flinch when his arrow landed mere inches away from me. He tried to grab another arrow but fell to a knee again, dropping his bow completely this time. I capitalized on this moment. I broke off and charged him with a battle cry, slicing at his arms and leg with my glowing sword.

My weapon easily cut through his skin and I was able to pull back without any resistance. I quickly dodged out of the way from his slow-moving hand. I took this moment to sing another short verse before charging back in for another few blows, then jumping back when he tried to grab at me.

This continued until my vocal chords felt raw from singing so much and screaming when I attacked. The wounds I'd created were slow-healing, but healing nonetheless. I was running out of steam, the heat I'd had fading fast. My sword slowly turned back to its normal, Celestial bronze color.

I backed up several yards, breathing heavily, my sword falling from my aching hand. My whole body screamed at how much I'd pushed it, but I ignored its protests and let my bow spiral out, nocking an arrow. My chronic pain levels were rising, but I ignored them as best I could. I wasn't about to give up, despite this, ultimately, being a losing battle. Asterius was still weak. Every time he tried to get to his feet, he didn't last long before falling to one or both knees. The sound of my song still echoed through these ruins. It was the only thing keeping him down, for his wounds had mostly healed.

I shot at his face, knowing that was probably the only real place they might do _some_ damage. He growled when an arrow met its mark, but was able to swat most of them away.

"You…cannot defeat me," he groaned, his voice sounding almost drunk. "I am…a giant! You…don't even have a god to help you! I shall…crush you, _puny_ demigod." With effort, he managed to push himself to his feet. Still wobbling, he took a staggering step toward me, not even bothering with his bow.

I backed up more and continued to shoot arrows at his face. He kept swatting them away like flies. He stopped abruptly to catch himself when he stumbled and I nocked my last arrow and aimed it at one of his eyes.

"I shall _crush_ you, filthy child of Apollo!" he roared with a slightly steadier voice. I felt my heart shoot up into my throat, but ignored this and prepared to let my last arrow go. Just as I was about to let go, a blinding white light flashed before my vision, like when someone blinds you with the reflection of the sun off a shiny surface. Only, the pain that usually comes with it didn't hit me. My vision was simply filled with white light and the next thing I knew, I was holding a golden arrow in my bow.

It was completely golden: the tip, the shaft, right down to the fletching. Warm to the touch, it hummed with energy that made my heart race wildly and my head feel fuzzy. I couldn't hold onto this arrow for very much longer, so the only logical thing to do next was shoot it.

I adjusted my aim to the middle of Asterius's forehead and let it fly. It shot through the air at such a high and fast speed it whistled, and I barely even registered it moving. One moment it was in my bow, the next it had imbedded itself into Asterius' forehead before catching fire.

Asterius let out the loudest bellow I'd ever heard. It shook the trees, reverberated through the ruins, and off in the distance, I heard a flock of birds squawk and take off. The giant stumbled back, stomping his feet, arms flailing.

"NNNOOOOOO!" he roared as his whole body slowly caught fire. I watched with morbid fascination as his body burned away, his armor melting and skin peeling before turning and ashy grey, but not quite falling apart. Soon enough, he was nothing but the shape of a 20-foot-tall giant that was made of embers.

"You…can't…defeat _me_ ," he wailed as the light of the embers slowly faded out, leaving nothing but ash.

"What's the matter, can't handle the heat?" I asked, my voice hoarse, just as Asterius' whole body fell back and burst into a cloud of dust, which settled onto the pile that was all that was left of the bane of Apollo.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I walked forward at a leisurely pace, picking up my sword on the way. I went over to the pile, straight to the golden arrow sticking out at an angle. I carefully pulled it from the ashes. It came away completely clean and intact. It was still warm, and thrummed with power, but nothing I couldn't handle this time.

I gripped it in my hand, staring intensely at it.

"Thanks," I murmured, my voice still scratchy. "Dad."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAS, I finally finished this chapter! I have been imagining this scene since the _very beginning_ of this story. It's changed _a whole fucking lot_ since them, but my God, does it feel great to have finally written it!
> 
> It also feels great to finally get this chapter to you guys. I'm sorry it's been so long. My month has been busy and hectic as the end of the school year, my last school year as an undergrad, rolls around way too quickly for my taste. I've been busy with last minute homework, picnics, BBQs, festivals, hanging out with friends before we all go our separate ways, worrying about grad school stuff, and summer jobs. It's been… _a month_.
> 
> A big, huge thank you for all of those who have stuck with me (to the end of the line). And, I know I say this almost every time I post, because of how infrequent I do so these days, but I truly mean it. It just means the absolute world to me you continue to wait and are patient with my month-long updates.
> 
> I'm sure you've noticed I changed the prophecy in MOA a bit, and this is because I needed a way to insert Tori's storyline in with the Seven's in _some_ way. They still end up doing the same thing they did in MOA, yes, but, you know ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Also, I decided that Artemis and Apollo should have their own giant banes to suit the purpose of my story. I hope I characterized Asterius well! Orion remains the bane of Artemis.
> 
> Also, also, the dream sequence was inspired by a scene in a _Sailor Moon_ movie, called the _Black Dream Hole_. And having their child be named Diana was an idea from [lucifersfavoritechild](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lucifersfavoritechild/pseuds/lucifersfavoritechild). Specifically their story, [Luke/Tori – Fluff](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9538736/chapters/21569033), which I recommend ya’ll go read because who doesn’t love Luke/Tori fluff?
> 
> The title of this chapter also comes from _Next to Normal_ , "Catch Me I'm Falling/Make Up Your Mind (Reprise)." I thought it very fitting.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed this long-awaited chapter! Comments are much appreciated! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	35. Children of the Barricade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I totally forgot to do this, and I changed the last chapter so it included a credit, but I want to make sure that those who've already read the chapter also know, having Luke and Tori's child in the dream sequence last chapter be named Diana was an idea that lucifersfavoritechild (here) came up with in their story, [Luke/Tori – Fluff](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9538736/chapters/21569033) (which you totally should go read). I just wanted ya'll to know.
> 
> Onto the story! (Zeus knows you've been waiting long enough.)

I tensed as someone draped a warm arm over my shoulders. "What can I say, except, you're welcome!" Apollo sang in a tune I didn't recognize. I gripped the golden arrow in my hand, staring at the pile of ashes that was Asterius, trying to retrain myself from stabbing Apollo with his own arrow.

Apollo pulled away slightly so he could look at me, but kept his arm around my shoulders.

"That was a rather violent thought, I ought to speak to Ares about this," he told me, shaking his head. "Those children of his are awful influences."

"Jesus," I sighed, still not looking at him, before realizing that my voice didn't sound hoarse or scratchy. Now that I thought about it, my throat didn't feel sore at all anymore. What's more, the exhaustion I'd felt a moment ago from my battle was slowly ebbing away. My chronic pain dimmed to a level so low, it felt  _almost_  nonexistent.

Apollo finally pulled away, removing his arm, to face me. "Apollo, actually." He grinned, showing his perfect, sparkly white teeth, and winked. He was older today, which I was secretly grateful for. I mean, he still looked young, about my age, but it felt more comfortable than if he were his usual 17.

When I didn't say anything or move, Apollo's grin dropped and he opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off by shoving the arrow into his face, arrow tip stopping just inches from his nose.

He frowned, it almost looking like a pout, and took his arrow back, shoving it back into his quiver.

Suddenly something occurred to me and because I, too, am a vindictive bitch, I made a dramatic flourish with my hand as I said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. Is 'Dad' too informal? Should I address you as  _Lord_  Apollo? I know that I am still under contract with the council." I paused. "Please, forgive me for the indiscretion." Apollo started to object, but I ignored him and talked over him. "Allow me to remedy my mistake." I started to bow, but suddenly he was gripping my arm, keeping me from actually bowing.

When I looked up at him, he looked older than I'd ever seen him: maybe mid- to late-thirties. It was such a shock, my act dropped and all I could do was stare at him, bewildered.

His voice was the quietest I'd ever heard: "You don't have to do that with me."

Carefully, I pulled my arm from his grasp and took a step away. His appearance changed again, back to around my age. I looked away awkwardly and noticed that my appearance had also changed. I was wearing a fitting CHB orange tank-top and denim shorts that were frayed at the ends. My tennis shoes had changed to black converse that looked almost brand new. My quiver had even been re-filled.

I narrowed my eyes and looked back at Apollo.

He shrugged. "Aphrodite isn't the only one who can change people's appearances for the better."

"Thanks," I deadpanned.

"That's not what I meant—"

"Shouldn't you be in agony or something?"

"I'm hurt." Apollo put a hand to his chest and looked so wounded I almost apologized, but gritted my teeth.

"Asterius told me that the gods were fighting within themselves," I explained in a monotone. "I imagine you'd be just as effected."

"You're triumph over him in a sacred temple has stabilized me somewhat, for now," he said. "I don't have a lot of time, though."

"Sacred temple?"

"Yes, the Temple of Me, here in Pompeii."

I took a moment to take that information in. I was in Pompeii? Italy? I thought I'd been in Greece this whole time. How long had I been in that cage? Asleep?

"I know your plan," he said, pulling me back to field. His voice, was once again quiet. I froze and it felt like someone had just shoved a hot iron rod into my head. Before I could respond, he continued. "I want to make sure you know what you're doing, what you're getting yourself into. Something like that will take a great sacrifice." His voice changed, becoming pained, and his eyes swirled with something that looked like loss.

I felt lightheaded. My chest constricted like someone had wrapped a ribbon around my lungs. Rowan, the voice in the House of Hades, and now Apollo, god of prophecies, had all told me the same thing. Not just that, but the expression Apollo wore was concerning.

Sacrifice. Like death? Mine? Or…someone else's?

I wanted to ask him, but I knew he wouldn't give me any straightforward answers if he gave one at all.

"Are you going to go back to the council? Stop me?" I asked, my voice gravelly, though I wasn't quite sure why.

To my surprise, Apollo shook his head. "No, I won't."

"How am I supposed to trust your word?"

"I swear it on the Styx." In the distance, thunder rumbled. Apollo shifted on his feet, looking sheepish, something I thought I'd only ever see once in a blue moon. "Besides, I'm…kind of hiding from my father, currently." It took me a moment to remember who his father was, but once I had, I crossed my arms and gave him a look.

"Oh?"

"Forget it." Apollo shook his head and waved me off. "I…shouldn't have said anything."

I wanted to prod, but thought better of it. Shifting on my feet uncomfortably, I looked around at the field, the scorched marks from the sun's intense rays. I wondered how long my achievement would stabilize his form. I didn't want to be around to find out, though. It sounded dangerous, being around a god fighting within themselves. Confusion and pain were not a good combination in humans, and I imagined even less so in gods.

Then I remembered how I'd gotten into this whole mess in the first place. My hatred and anger returned.

"Why help me?" I demanded. "If you threw me into Tartarus because you were…too  _afraid_  of how powerful I was?" I sounded more hurt than I wanted to, but I waited for his answer, watching his expression carefully. My eyes were burning, but there was no way it was from tears. I must've been reacting to something—allergies, maybe.

Apollo frowned at my sudden outburst. "You say that like it was a unanimous decision," he replied in a low, angry tone. "I voted against throwing you into Tartarus, but it didn't matter, because majority rules."

I scoffed and crossed my arms. "Yeah, right. Because I'm your daughter? You feel it's your duty?"

Apollo took a step toward me, his eyebrows furrowed, lips turned down. It was very uncharacteristic of him. "No. Because you are my daughter, and I know that you are not what the other gods think you are."

My arms fell limply to my sides and I swallowed hard. "Then why didn't you—"

"What? Defy what the council has ruled?" he interrupted, raising his voice. I blinked and suddenly he was seventeen. It struck me like lightning how much he looked like Will. I wasn't sure if he'd done that on purpose, to toy with my emotions, but from his expression and tone of voice, that wasn't his intention. Seventeen was the age he was most comfortable with, and it made sense under duress he'd look that age. "You think that I didn't want to? You think that when we were discussing your punishment after the Second Titan War I didn't try to talk Zeus about lightening up your punishment?"

"I thought you weren't allowed to interfere with our lives," I spat bitterly. My heart was pounding out of my chest, though, at his words. Why was he telling me this now? Had I provoked him that much? This was usually how we interacted, though to be fair we didn't really interact  _often_  enough for there to  _be_  a "usual." Still, when we did talk, he didn't react like… _this_. Whatever this was.

"This isn't about the Ancient Laws!" Apollo snapped.

"Then what's it about?" I snapped back, my hands balling into fists at my sides.

"Zeus is the Lord of the Sky. Lord of the Heavens." Apollo gestured wildly toward the sky, getting more worked up than I'd ever seen him. "King of the gods. And  _my father_. You think that I can just…defy him on a whim without repercussions?" His eyes were wide, his chest heaving. He shifted restlessly on his feet, and his hands flapped against his legs.

I looked at him for a long time, my brain slowly working through his response, his reaction, what that emotion was in his eyes, and it suddenly clicked: he was scared. Of Zeus, it seemed. But that couldn't be right, could it? I mean, he was right, Zeus was the king of the gods, but Apollo was also a god. That had to mean he still had sway. That he shouldn't be as scared as he looked when talking about Zeus, or other gods for that matter. Yet…

I took a step toward him, and opened my mouth to speak, to ask him, but he interrupted me by throwing what looked to be a small coin purse at me. I just barely managed to catch it before it hit me in the face.

"You might need that soon," he said. "Just a little extra for all your hard work."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks…" I faltered and tried my best to say the word, but couldn't. "Apollo."

The corner of Apollo's lips pulled up. "Only got the capacity to say it once a day, eh?"

"More like once a century," I commented under my breath.

Apollo shook his head and chuckled. Also really uncharacteristic of him. It was really starting to weird me out. I didn't like his inflated ego and big-headed attitude, either, but  _not_  seeing it on him was actually concerning to me. It was just something I associated with him, something that  _was_  him. To see him acting like anything but that meant something was wrong.

To be fair, something was. He was hiding something from me, and he'd just revealed how scared he was of Zeus. (Which was supremely weird to think about—him opening up to me. Why all of a sudden? Why  _now_?)

Apollo suddenly doubled over with a yelp. His form flickered. There wasn't much difference between the two forms; it was almost like another part of himself or some kind of doppelganger was trying to escape from his body.

I took a step toward him, a hand hesitantly outstretched. "…Apollo?"

"I have to go," he gasped.

"Wait—!" I tried, but he was already gone, vanished just like that. I lowered my arm and sighed. Well, that had gone swimmingly.

I looked down at the coin purse in my other hand. It was heavy, filled with what felt like coins—go figure—but also something else, it felt fuller. Curious, I opened it up to find a thick roll of what looked to be euros all bundled together neatly and tightly with a rubber band. I took that out and nearly dropped it like a hot potato. The topmost bill was a 500 euro note. I didn't want to know what was underneath, how much was in this wad of cash. I looked back at the spot Apollo had been before disappearing. Where  _the fuck_  had he gotten hold of this kind of money? And he was…giving it to  _me_?

Trying to push that to the back of my mind for now, I looked back into the purse to see a small pile of golden drachmas. Those would definitely come in handy. As for the euros, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with all this cash. Was he giving me a way to fly back to the States? Maybe he'd put the 500 on the outside just to make it seem like there was more than there actually was.

Letting curiosity get the best of me, I took the rubber band off the roll of money, and carefully unraveled it. The stack of bills was folded in half and before I could even unfold them completely, I was distracted by the small scrap of paper that'd been rolled up in the middle of the bundle.

It had one word written on it in elegant handwriting I could barely even read (fitting for Apollo):  _Siena._

Well, I guess now I had a destination. That was good. Though, this information was coming from a god, so how good this would turn out to be was questionable.

It also meant I couldn't go back to the States yet (I wondered if the money in this bundle was even enough for a flight back to the States). As much as I wanted to. As much as I wanted to go home, see my siblings, see Dan.

The golden drachmas! If I could find a rainbow, I could IM them!

I quickly rerolled the money, put the rubber band back around it, re-packed the bundle back into the coin purse, shoved it into my pocket before turning around and looking back the way I'd come from. There wasn't much way back into those little house/maze-like areas. I'd had to walk around, find a way out of these ruins.

I turned in a circle, looking around, trying to see another way out. I saw a bigger building in the distance, to my right, and decided to head that way, see if it'd lead me anywhere. Now that I wasn't focused on surviving, I realized how hot it was. I was sweltering in this heat. It was so humid! And I felt dehydrated. I'd need to find water, also. Great.

Right on cue, my stomach rumbled.

I sighed audibly. "I  _know_ ," I groaned, talking to my body. "I'll get you what you need."

When I made it to the building, I did another sweep and noticed some cars parked up at the top of a small hill. Confused, I walked forward, toward the cars, hoping that if there were cars, there'd be people. Not that I could speak a lick of Italian, but maybe I'd be able to find someone who spoke English.

It was easy enough, thankfully. Though, I didn't find anyone from the States or even the UK. I found someone from China who spoke English fluently, on vacation. She was an older lady, and very nice. Her name was Mei (pronounced like May). She called a cab and decided to leave Pompeii early so she could take me to get a late lunch.

It was quiet between us. I was always bad at making conversation. After everything that'd happened—going through Tartarus, finally coming to terms with my grief from Luke's death, fighting a giant, and talking with my father—something like normal conversation didn't really…feel right. What was I supposed to say? Talk about?

Thankfully, Mei didn't seem to mind the silence. She simply sat and looked out the window, a small smile that never left her lips. It looked like she was enjoying the scenery.

We went to brunch at a small café, and she convinced me to try the hot chocolate even though it was hot and humid (even this early in the day). This was after two glasses of water. I was grateful that she'd managed to convince me because the hot chocolate they sold here looked like they'd simply taken a chocolate bar and melted it until it was just the right consistency for pouring smoothly into a mug. It reminded me of the chocolate waterfall in  _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_.

The flavor was nothing like I'd ever tasted before. Honestly, it tasted what ambrosia or nectar would taste like in its true form, not based on what our favorite foods were.

I tried to tell her she didn't have to pay for our brunches, but she insisted and I couldn't find it in me to disagree with her for long. Afterward, we took another cab to a bus station and she helped me buy a ticket (she, again, offered to pay and I tried to decline but she insisted enough that I eventually gave in) to Siena. We said goodbye, I thanked her again, and I got onto the bus. I went straight to the back and sat down next to the window. I was tempted to put my weapons in the seat next to me, but was afraid of having to move them if the bus became too crowded.

I hated having to take them off my person, but the seats didn't allow me to sit with them on. Besides, I'd still have trouble unsheathing them while sitting. So I bundled them up (sword, dagger, and quiver of arrows) and set them against my seat, between the bus and my leg.

Mei told me that the bus ride was just over five hours (because apparently she spoke Italian well enough, too), so I rested my head against the glass of the bus and closed my eyes. I hadn't expected to fall asleep as fast as I did, but when I did, my dreams weren't their usual demigod dreams. They were filled with scenes of Tartarus—the blood-red clouds, the monsters within them; the  _arai_ ; the large, reptilian monsters that jumped from caves and attacked the other monsters in our convoy. The list went on and on, but I couldn't seem to wake myself up.

When someone grabbed my shoulder, my eyes flew open and I reacted instinctively—I grabbed their hand from my shoulder before putting them into a wrist lock. The person let out a yelp and collapsed into the seat next to me whimpering and struggling to get away from my grip.

My heart was racing, my vision seemed blurry, mixed with Tartarus and reality. And, unfortunately for me, Apollo's magic had worn off: my chronic pain had spiked to nearly deafening. When the visions from Tartarus finally faded and my chronic pain dimmed enough I could think again, I registered where I was and what I was doing.

I remembered I was on a bus to Siena. Next to me was a woman, about my age, who I currently had in a wrist lock. The other people on the bus were looking at us with concerned faces. The bus driver was looking intensely at me through the rearview mirror. We were still sitting idly at the bus station.

My heart still hammering against my chest, the pinpricks in my body making it difficult to respond quickly, I released the woman's hand and shifted away from her in my seat as much as it would allow.

"I'm so sorry, I…I-I was having a bad dream," I explained, hoping she spoke English. "You startled me."

The woman was shaking out her wrist, with a pained expression. She was either ignoring me or hadn't heard what I'd said. Instead, she turned toward the people on the bus and, in rapid, fluent Italian, said something. Her gestures were placating, so I had to assume she was assuring them everything was okay. At least I hoped, because I didn't want to have to find another bus. Or become a fugitive in a foreign country.

After a moment of tense silence—which I used to try and get a handle on my chronic pain—everyone turned back to face front. The bus driver turned his eyes toward the road and we were off.

The woman turned back to me and smiled, which shocked me. I'd just nearly broken her wrist and first, she calmed the bus down, and now she was smiling at me. With a quick glance around, I saw a few empty seats. I looked back at her. I couldn't believe she was still sitting next to me. (I also wished I had asked Mei to take me to a drugstore so I could've gotten the Italian equivalent to ibuprofen.)

"Must've been one bad dream for you to have startled like that," she said in a British accent. Her skin was brown, darker than mine, and her hair was long and curly. She wore a tank top and denim shorts, but they weren't frayed on the ends like mine, they were folded over. She had a small leather backpack still on her back.

When I didn't say anything, she took her backpack off and set it in her lap before stretching her hand out. "I'm Bridget."

I stared at her hand, wondering if she had any sense of self-preservation, because usually when someone puts you into a wrist lock, you avoid them as much as possible, not continue sitting next to them and introduce yourself.

I looked back up at Bridget and her eyes flickered to her hand before meeting mine again and nodding.

Hesitantly, I took her hand and gave it a short, firm shake.

"I'm…" I stumbled, not really sure why I did. For some reason, I found it hard to tell her Victoria, like I had been telling everyone since Luke's death. But having finally worked through my grief—maybe not fully, but I certainly felt more at peace than I ever had—it felt wrong to use Victoria. I really did like Tori. I managed a smile. "I'm Tori."

"So are you like some martial arts teacher or something?" Bridget asked with a laugh.

"You could say that," I mumbled.

"Camp Half-Blood," she read from my shirt. "That where you train? Bit of a strange name."

"Uh, yeah, I'm a…I'm a counselor," I told her, stunned that the Mist hadn't changed the name or obscured the logo on my shirt. I knew some mortals were able to see through the Mist to varying degrees, perhaps she was one of those mortals. "It's a themed camp—Greek mythology. That's why the logo's a pegasus."

Bridget nodded. "I like it. And do you teach archery, too?" she asked inclining her head toward my bundle of weapons.

"It's a camp favorite." I managed a laugh. It was more hysterical than anything else. Out of everything I thought I'd encounter on my way to Siena, this was  _not_  one of them. Not even remotely. Though, it was better than a monster any day. (Now if I could just find a way to get my chronic pain back down to a manageable level.)

* * *

Bridget was a talker. I actually found it fun spinning my life as a demigod into something that sounded somewhat normal to someone who seemed pretty normal (other than her aversion to safety and being able to see through the Mist). What's more, it kept me from falling asleep again. After such terrible dreams, I was not ready to go to sleep, despite how tired I still felt. Sleeping had already been hard for me, now it was going to be harder than ever.

After a while, I couldn't handle my the pinpricks anymore and asked her if she had any painkillers. To my relief, she did (though the Britain equivalent to ibuprofen). After I took three, and they kicked in, I felt much better. It was higher than when Apollo had healed me, but at the usual level I'd lived with since I'd gotten chronic pain.

Bridget was on her way to Siena, too. She was taking a gap year; a history major, she was trying to take in all the history she could before heading back to school, visiting as many museums and historic landmarks as she could. Funnily enough, she had quite an interest in Ancient Greek and Roman history, which was why she was currently in Italy.

When conversation died down, she brought out her smartphone and a couple pairs of headphones, offering one to me. I was unsure if a mortal held an electronic device, but I used it by listening with headphones, if it would attract monsters. I was more nervous than I would've usually felt about this decision. It could've been after effects of Tartarus, or because a monster attack would endanger these people, or both. But either way, my heart was pounding as I held the headphones, trying to decide what to do.

In the end, though, I gave up. I decided to risk it, because I wanted to try and enjoy this experience (extremely selfish, I know), of feeling like a normal person for a little while. For just a little while….

As I was putting in the earphones, glad Bridget hadn't noticed my hesitation, she brought out a device that had several headphone jacks, so more than one person could listen at a time. Instead of playing her music, she started talking about her favorite musicals as we listened to some soundtracks. (I hoped the Fates were having a good laugh.)

I told her stories of the performances I had teched for, and of all the stories from Dan's shows. For a moment, I almost felt normal, talking about productions my brother hand been in, and which musicals were my personal favorites.

When there was only a few minutes left of our bus trip, Bridget put away everything and turned to face me more fully again. I had a feeling it was about to get serious, and was suddenly nervous.

"Okay, I wasn't going to ask, but I'm kind of a go-for-it, forward, no-nonsense person," she started, her speech quicker than it had been the whole ride.

I smirked. "I couldn't tell."

Bridget laughed nervously and brushed some hair from her face. "Okay, so I've noticed your jewelry and I  _really_  wasn't going to ask, but it looks…well it looks personal and I was just wondering where you got them. Or if you got them from someone…special?"

Her tone suggested something, but I was unsure of what exactly.

I looked down at the ring on my finger, the one Luke had given me, and twisted it, thinking.

"If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to," Bridget said. "I know it's a nosy question, and I'm a nosy person, but I'm just really curious and I let it get the best of me. I figured, why not?"

"My boyfriend," I started as I stopped twisting my ring, but keeping my gaze on my hands.

"Boyfriend," Bridget sighed. I looked up at her, surprised by her disappointment.

"…ex…boyfriend," I clarified.

"Oh?" I think Bridget tried not to look as interested in this information as she did right then, but she hadn't succeeded. Though, I had a feeling she wasn't really trying, either.

"He died." I added, looking over at her.

"Oh." She sagged back into her seat, staring at the one in front of her. I could tell she was contemplating something before glancing at me with a sheepish look. "You're allowed to slap me if this is too forward, but you wouldn't happen to be bi, would you?"

I blinked, having not expected that question. Of course, with Bridget, expectations meant nothing. She'd surprised me multiple times throughout this bus ride. At least she was consistent.

I smiled and laughed, not at her question, but at this foreign feeling. "Actually, you know, I've never thought about it," I told her truthfully. I looked back down at my ring, my mood sobering. "Luke was…my best friend. He was all I wanted and needed in a partner so I've never really thought of being with anyone else." I looked back at Bridget, shrugging. "Male or otherwise."

Instead of hopeful, her expression was calculating. Just then the bus stopped. I looked out the window and realized we'd finally arrived in Siena. I looked back at Bridget who was pouting.

"You know, I need help finding a shop for some clothes, and some other random items like a prism and a flashlight. Painkillers." I told her as I grabbed what little things I had. Maybe it was mean—now that I knew she was interested in me—because I felt like I was leading her on, but I was also genuinely asking for help. "I came here kind of on a whim and I'd really rather not look like a lost tourist—both by being lost and confused and by wearing stereotypical tourist clothes. I could really use someone who knows Italian."

Bridget brightened again, smiling. "I'd be happy to help you find a boutique or something. Maybe we could…also get a late lunch?"

I wanted to shoot her last suggestion down, but she was smiling so hopefully and with big brown puppy-dog eyes that I couldn't find it in me. Rest assured, I'd make sure she knew that a relationship with me might not be the best—besides, it was the same with Nick, in that I didn't know if I could love someone as much as I loved Luke, which would be unfair to Bridget, who seemed nice enough.

"Sure, that sounds…fun." I nodded, smiling.

We exited the bus and sat down (I'd put my weapons back on my person before this) on a nearby bench as she searched for shops (both for clothes and the items I was looking for) nearby using Google Maps. Once she'd found something promising, she looped her arm in mine and went to hail a cab. On the ride over, she asked me what I liked about the musicals we'd listened to on the bus ride. (Though, there had only been time for two— _Heathers: The Musical_  and  _Hamilton_.)

We went to a larger store equivalent to Walmart or Target in the States. It was more likely that I'd find everything I needed all in one place (rather than a boutique like she'd suggested earlier). I was able to find a backpack, flashlight, and painkillers (I bought three bottles), but no prism. We decided to get clothes and then go look for a store that might carry prisms. Bridget was all too happy to help me pick out clothes.

It was actually really fun. I felt like a normal mortal, which was almost therapeutic after having gone through so much demigod shit in such a short amount of time. I could just relax, laugh, and have fun looking for clothes and having our own little fashion show. If this were a movie, this was where the montage would be.

When we were finished (Bridget picked out a few things, too), we headed toward checkout. I realized I hadn't organized the bills Apollo had given me like I had planned to on the bus. I set my basket down on the floor as we waited in line and pulled out the coin purse, trying not to be self-conscious about the wad of cash. I quickly undid the rubber band and fully opened up the roll. I should've fucking known they'd all be 500 euro notes.

"You've been holding out on me," Bridget commented. My head snapped up and I felt blood rush into my face. Flustered, I fumbled trying to fold and roll the bills back up. "You didn't tell me you were loaded," she continued, as I took one of the bills from the top before putting the rubber band back around the bundle.

"A…gift," I explained, putting the money back into my coin purse. "From my…father." I rolled my eyes. "He left my mom when I was still a baby. He got in touch a few years back and has been trying to make it up to me since. Small world—we bumped into each other in Pompeii. I guess this is what he thinks is 'making up.'"

"By throwing money at you?" Bridget joked.

"It's complicated," I murmured, looking down at my basket.

After a moment of silence, Bridget spoke again. "You should get a wallet for all that. Coin purses like that haven't been used since the 1670s." She paused, looking at my purse. "That looks like what they used in Ancient Greek times!" Without warning, she put her hand up underneath mine and stroked the pouch with her other hand. "Your  _dad_  had this?"

"He…likes collecting Ancient Greek artifacts," I lied. "Wonders of wonders, he also likes Ancient Greek history."

"This can't be an actual purse from Ancient Greece," Bridget commented. No doubt it was. I silently cursed.

"Oh, yeah, well…as you saw he's pretty loaded," I quickly explained. "Sometimes, he likes to make replicas of artifacts that can be used now."

Before Bridget could say anything else, someone behind us said something in Italian. Bridget dropped her hands, and looked over my shoulder, responding to them before looking back at me. "The line's moved." I'd been so absorbed in our conversation, I hadn't even noticed.

We picked up our baskets and moved forward. After paying for our things we went in search for a prism and wallet. Bridget insisted I get a leather one since Italy was known for its leather-made things. I caved, a wallet wasn't the most expensive thing to get, all things considered. Then we went in search for a prism. Bridget had to ask around, but we finally found a small shop that sold crystals, jewelry, paperweights, etc., as well as prisms.

Bridget had found a café for our late lunch using her phone. I'd changed my shirt (and taken more painkillers; we'd done a lot more walking than I was expecting) while she'd done this, because I felt the bright orange and the large logo were just too inconspicuous, especially here. We were walking from the main road to get to, but as we passed a gift shop that I just so happened to glance in on, I saw someone familiar. Too familiar. So familiar, in fact, that I was thrown back into my demigod life so violently I tripped and nearly did a face-plant on the pavement. I was suddenly very aware of why Apollo's note had directed me to Siena.

My time of feeling like a normal girl were over. Too soon.

The person looking through the shirts currently, though not facing me, was wearing a purple t-shirt and jeans. He was heavyset and tall. From the back, I could tell his hair was black. I didn't need to see him from the front to know that he was Asian. I'd seen him only once, but I would never forget a person who debated on whether or not I was worth saving.

Bridget squeezed my shoulder gently, breaking me from my swirling thoughts. Her eyebrows were furrowed, eyes filled with concern.

"Hey, are you okay? What's wrong?" She hesitantly looked at who I was staring at, her hand still on my shoulder. She turned to face me again, though my eyes stayed on the boy. "Do you know that person?"

"I do." My voice sounded more disappointed than I had wanted it to. I focused back in on Bridget. "I'm sorry, but we'll have to rain check our lunch."

Bridget didn't look as sad as I thought she would, which surprised me. "So we'll be seeing each other again?"

"Oh." I guess I was hopeful. Even if this amounted to nothing romantic, which it most likely wouldn't for me, it would've been nice to have a mortal friend. Though, a mortal friend who seemed to be able to see through the Mist. "I actually don't know." I finally told her. "My life is a bit…chaotic. All the time. I'm not sure…"

Bridget finally removed her hand from my shoulder and held it out. "Here, give me your mobile and I'll put my number in."

I shook my head, giving her an apologetic look. "I don't have one."

Her eyes bugged out of her head and she laughed (shocking me yet again). " _How_  have you survived so long without a phone?"

"Like I said, my life's been…chaotic."

"All right," she sighed, shaking her head. She reached into her purse, then, and pulled out a small notepad and tiny pen. She started scribbling something on the paper and glanced up at me with a rueful look. "Look at you, making me do this the old-fashioned way," she muttered, rolling her eyes at me, but grinning. When she was done, she ripped the paper off and handed it over to me. On it was her number.

"I don't—" I tried to object.

"Just take it," she interrupted. "Phone me when you find one of your own. Or steal someone else's." She winked.

"Ever the optimist," I commented, taking the slip of paper from her hand and folding it before putting it into my pocket. "Really, I want you to know that I don't…. It's just that—"

Bridget laughed, but it had a sad edge to it. "Trust me, I've dated enough to know when someone isn't interested."

"I'm sorry."

"Well, I'd still love to be friends. So keep my number and,  _seriously_ , phone me when you get the chance."

I couldn't help but smile. "Thank you."

Bridget grinned, but I saw another flash of sadness in her eyes. "I guess this is goodbye, then."

"Thank you so much for helping me, I really had a lot of fun today." I held out my hand. Bridget smiled and pulled me into a hug. I tensed for a moment, before forcing my arms around her so it wouldn't seem weird.

When we pulled away, I looked back at the boy still sifting through the shirts. "I'd better…" I pointed toward the gift shop. "Go talk to him."

Bridget nodded. "Hope to see you again." She smiled and winked. "Soon."

I couldn't help the answering smile from stretching across my face. "Yeah, same. Thank you, again."

Bridget nodded once more before we stepped past each other. She was still headed to the café. I took a few deep breaths as I walked away, forcing myself not to look back. I knew if I did, I wouldn't want to return to the demigod world, but I also knew that I was here for a reason. And I was getting closer and closer to that reason.

I entered the gift shop, not sure how I would approach. I knew him, but he only knew my name. How was I to introduce myself? Besides which, if I was supposed to meet him here, did that mean the  _Argo II_  was nearby? Was Apollo trying to tell me I'd be traveling with them? That didn't make any sense, I wasn't even one of the Seven!

I frowned at the trinkets I was currently standing in front of, my head spinning.

I decided to wander around the store until I could come up with a way to introduce myself. Which was a battle in and of itself because I was terrible when it came to human interaction already. Add on this extra stress of the impending end of the world and some role I apparently had to play in it (whether that be to save it or destroy it), well this was going to be downright impossible.

Looking around, though, I got distracted by the souvenirs, thinking maybe I could bring my siblings back something fun. Apollo knew I had enough money left anyways. The only problem was figuring out what would suit my siblings. Some of them, I could get a keychain for. Shot glasses were out of the question because not only were almost all of them not old enough yet, but CHB was also a dry camp, alcohol was strictly banned. And my brother didn't drink, so.

In the end, though, I decided to get them all keychains. They were easily portable and if I kept them zipped tight in my backpack, I had less chance of losing them (less didn't exactly make my odds of not losing them that much higher, unfortunately).

I went to checkout, painfully aware that I still hadn't figured out a way to introduce myself to Frank. But when I glanced at him as the cashier rang me up, he was heading toward checkout, too. I quickly turned my gaze back to the cashier, who said something in Italian.

I made a face and shook my head, "I don't…" I trailed off, feeling awkward and wishing I had someone who spoke Italian with me.

The cashier held up a plastic bag and I shook my head. Once the transaction was complete, the cashier merely smiled and waved, which I returned as I left. I let out a breath when I got out, silently cursing myself for not having talked to Frank. Surely that's why I was here? So why did I have to be so damn awkward?

I started forward slowly, putting the keychains into a small pocket on the bag and zipping it tight, trying to quickly think of some haphazard plan so I wouldn't look weird slowly walking forward with a pained expression on my face. Maybe I could…accidentally bump into him, or something. Or maybe—

"Um, excuse me, miss?"

I turned to see Frank approaching me, looking an impressive combination of nervous and relieved.

I was so stunned that he'd approached me that I didn't speak as he came to a stop a few feet away.

"You…you speak English, right?" Frank asked, looking much more nervous.

"Oh, yes, I do," I finally managed. "Can I help you? I can't speak Italian, either, so…I don't know how much help I can offer."

"Well I…I was just wondering if you knew another place I could buy some clothes," Frank explained. "Just by some chance. I-I got a shirt, but they don't have much else. You see, my…friend"—he seemed to struggle with this word, which I thought was odd—"lost most of mine a while ago and I need more."

"Actually I do," I told him. "I was just there earlier today. I can definitely take you there, if you'd like."

Frank smiled, his shoulders relaxing in relief. "Oh, that'd be great, actually. Thank you."

I smiled. "No problem."

The cab ride was silent, which I was fine with. But I could tell Frank didn't feel comfortable with it. He kept shifting in his seat, glancing out the window before glancing back at me. Every now and then, out of the corners of my eyes, I saw him take in a breath as if to say something, then blow it out like he decided better of whatever he'd wanted to say.

"S-so what are you doing in Italy?" Frank asked when we arrived at our destination.

I thought about what'd happened to me that led to this—Mr. D's mission, Tartarus, Gaea, Asterius, Apollo—as I paid the fare and got out, Frank following suit. "I decided to be…spontaneous, I guess you could say. Didn't really plan, just decided to come." We started walking toward the entrance. "How about you?"

Frank frowned. "Not here long." He looked away. "I don't think I'm liking Italy all that much, to be quite honest. Just gonna get some clothes. I fly out later tonight, actually."

"Oh? Where to?" I was just being a little shit at this point and playing along at this point. I was trying to find a good point to reveal who I was and what I was doing here.

Frank paused. "Greece. Though I don't know that I'll like that any better, either," he muttered.

"Why's that?"

"…family reunion," Frank said slowly. "Of sorts."

"You don't like your family?"

"Not most of them."

"I understand. I don't like most of my family much, either."

Frank nodded but didn't say anything else as we made our way to the Men's clothes section of the store.

I stood off to the side as he picked out clothes, humming one of the songs from one of the musicals Bridget and I had listened to. When Frank was finished, we went to checkout. Still in silence.

As we were exiting, Frank turned to me and asked, "I didn't even realize, I never got your name."

I felt my heart jump in my chest and let out a small breath so he wouldn't here. "I'm Victoria—" I was going to add, "And you?" but didn't get the chance because Frank stopped walking and dropped his bags.

I kept walking a few paces, pretending to ignore his reaction before turning and looking back at him. He didn't know I knew him, and it wasn't like I was going to tell him I knew because of a dream I had about them arguing about a life or death situation involving me. That'd just make it more awkward than it needed to be.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

He continued to look at me in silence, his eyes wide, mouth ajar. I opened my mouth to say something, but Frank beat me to it, "Victoria…Williams?"

I tried to look confused. "Yeah, how…how'd you know?" I stepped back toward him.

"Uh…Percy, Percy Jackson?" For some reason, he seemed to have trouble saying Percy's name, but kept talking before I could ask what that was all about. "He's friends with you, right? The Prophecy of Seven, you know, he's one of the Seven. He's talked about you—what-what are you doing in Italy?" I went to answer, but he continued before I could. "Wait, when you said you were being spontaneous—?"

"I meant that I was taken here against my will," I interrupted, nodding. "By titans and Earthborn."

"Oh, that's right! You went through Tartarus!"

I jumped at that, now genuinely confused. "How did you know that?"

"Nico di Angelo—"

"Nico?" I asked, realizing that the last time I saw him was right before he'd been shoved into a giant bronze jar. "He's okay? You've seen him? Where?"

"He's on the  _Argo II_  with us. Right now, actually," Frank answered just as rapidly as I had asked the question. "He's…well I wouldn't say okay, but he's alive. He told us a little about Tartarus. Well…that he was there. He said you were with him. That's why I know."

"Can you take me to see him? Can I…can you take me to the  _Argo II_?"

"Uh…yeah. Yeah, sure." Frank blinked and bent over to pick up his bags. "It's not too far. A short cab ride and a small-ish walk through a park, but it's a short walk."

"Thank you, I was so worried about him. We were split up when we finally made it out of Tartarus," I explained as we walked to the main street. "By Gaea's underlings." I couldn't believe I'd forgotten about him. But to be fair, I'd had other things on my mind. A lot of other things.

"So who's your godly parent, then?" Frank asked as the cab pulled up.

"Apollo," I answered before we slid in. Frank leaned forward and said the name of, I assumed, the park the  _Argo II_  was at. The cabbie nodded before taking off.

"I actually wanted him to be my father, actually, if you can believe that," Frank laughed. "I'm great at archery."

"Who's your parent? Do the Roman gods not…claim their children when they get to camp?"

"It's more complicated," Frank started. "We're thrown to the wolves. Literally. Lupa, who's, like, the equivalent to Chiron, is a wolf. And she has children that we spend training with before we're…released into the wilds of California in search of Camp Jupiter. Usually, we know our godly parent before we get there. We get tattoos"—Frank showed me his, on his forearm was the initial SPQR, two crossed spears, and underneath that one line, like from a bar code—"when we… _prove_  ourselves to the legion. SPQR is short for a Latin phrase that means The Senate and People of Rome. The crossed spears represent my godly parent, Mars"—he frowned at this—"and the line shows how long I've served the legion. Generally speaking."

"'Prove'?" I repeated.

"Yeah, like we go on a successful quest," Frank said. "Or we fight and defeat a particularly nasty monster that's trying to attack our camp. Hazel, another one of the Seven—I think she's told me you guys met briefly—got hers by preventing some unicorns who'd started a stampede from trampling a fellow camper."

"Wow, that sounds…" I tried to think of something nice to say, but I was blanking. Everything about their lives sounded so… _harsh_. They were all just kids, coming in and expecting to fight with wolves, fend for themselves against monsters just to get to the camp? And then what? Are scrutinized, not even considered part of the legion until they  _proved_  themselves. It sounded like high school (from what I'd learned about it, anyway, from my time out in the mortal world) on some serious steroids.

The cab pulled up to our destination, not giving me a chance to finish my sentence. I paid the fare again before we got out. I let Frank lead the way. Though, I could see the giant war ship floating in the air already. Night had fallen by now, and the moon was just coming away from the horizon, bathing the ship in its silvery light. The ship  _looked_  small, however, which told me we were farther away than it appeared.

I was actually glad the park was an open space, too, because I was already on edge. If we'd had to trek through trees or something, I don't think I would've made it. After Tartarus I just…I felt more anxious about…everything, basically.

"You don't have to struggle to compliment it," Frank muttered, looking around the park as we walked. His snapped to me, though, eyes wide like he'd just realized what he'd said. "I'm a loyal Roman, and will serve my legion with pride and until my last breaths, don't get me wrong. But sometimes…" He sighed and shook his head, looking away again. "They  _always_  expect you to be so  _together_ , and _always_  have a plan. You're not allowed to…make a mistake or do something wrong. Or even cry! You always have to be one hundred and ten percent sure of yourself." His shoulders slumped. "It's just…hard sometimes."

I didn't know what to say to that. I didn't want to say "I'm sorry" because if I didn't like it, then I shouldn't subject others to it either.

"That seems really unfair," I finally said, looking at Frank. "Especially for…just kids."

Frank looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes. "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-three."

"Some people would consider you still a kid, too, you know."

I laughed, which felt good. "This is true, but I…I guess I consider anyone under twenty still a kid." I paused, sobering up, and looking down at my feet as they trampled grass and murmured, "The children of the barricade who didn't last the night."

"…you lost me." Frank said. I could feel his eyes on me.

I looked up at him. "Oh, I…sorry, a musical reference. I like musicals, if you can believe that." I grinned and Frank laughed. The first time I'd heard him laugh since we met.

"What musical is that from? Sounds pretty depressing."

" _Les Mis_ ," I told him. "It is a pretty depressing musical. It's about one of the French Revolutions that failed pretty…well, pretty miserably. Only four of the named characters survive and you don't even really like any of them. But it's a beautiful musical. Well worth a listen."

"I think I'd like that." Frank smiled. I smiled back. Then Frank stopped and looked up. Several yards ahead and having above us was the  _Argo II_. Frank looked back at me. "I'll go up first."

As we approached, a rope ladder dropped down. Frank readjusted his bags so he could climb up. I waited until he was a few feet ahead before grabbing onto the rungs. Right before I lifted myself up fully onto the ladder, the earth beneath me shook ever so slightly, sending chills up my spine, reminding me of what was at stake. Swallowing hard, I began to climb.

* * *

Frank paused at the top of the ladder, hanging onto the railing that was lined with bronze shields. A defense mechanism to protect the ship from attracting monsters. With so many demigods in one area at once, it was bound to send out a signal, like a beacon of light in the middle of a pitch black night.

"Hey, guys," I heard him say. I tried not to look down, but I didn't want to look up either, so I looked around the park. It was too dark for me to make out anything distinct, and the light of the moon wasn't enough. But it was beautiful in a mysterious way. "So, as you may have seen, I bumped into someone while I was shopping for clothes." Frank continued, his voice halting and nervous.

"You just brought a random demigod to the  _Argo II_?" I heard Jason ask. His voice was controlled, but I could hear the incredulousness and anger just underneath the surface. So did Frank.

"No," he snapped. Though, for Frank, for as long as I'd known him, that's not saying much. "I'm smarter than that. It's hard to explain. I'll just…let  _her_  explain." He pulled himself up and over the railing, then, allowing me to climb up the rest of the way and pull myself over the railing as well.

I held my breath and kept my gaze firmly on the ground, but high enough I could see everyone's feet—I only counted four pairs of, including Frank. I was taking inventory and using the rest of my senses in case I was attacked. I knew Jason didn't like me one bit, and to bring who he didn't trust onto the  _Argo II_  might warrant an attack from him.

Once I'd planted my feet firmly on the ground, I looked up. Before I could really look at anyone for long or make some kind of greeting, someone else spoke.

"Evil Enchantress!" Leo called. I looked toward the stern in time to see Leo jump from behind the helm and start toward our little group. He had a big grin on his face.

"Hey, Leo," I called back, trying for a smile of my own.

"It's good to see you…alive," he said as he got within a few feet. And it may have been my imagination, it was dark, but I could've sworn his eyes flickered in the direction of Jason.

"Good to see you, too," I responded.

"Tori." It was a different voice. I looked to my right to see Nico, though he nearly blended in with the dark. Beside him, Jason flinched almost imperceptibly, but didn't make a sound or move away.

Nico looked a little worse for wear. Still thin, as he had in Tartarus, but he looked sickly. His clothes hung off his small frame, his long dark hair, making his face look thinner and eyes sunken in. It also looked like he could use some sleep. (I'm sure I'd come to know that feeling well, soon.)

"Hey, Nico," I said quietly, with a small smile.

"You're alive," he breathed, looking so relieved it hurt. Which actually surprised me because of what transpired before we were taken topside. Honestly, though, for me it was water under the bridge. I think I still felt betrayed and hurt, but it was no longer directed at him. Looking at him, I was reminded how young and how much he had gone through already. He had his reasons for keeping his secret.

"I am." I nodded. I was about to tell him that I was glad to see him alive, but his body, despite being stick-thin, slammed into mine painfully as he wrapped his arms around my neck. I was so shocked at his show of affection that I completely froze.

His arms tightened around me as he whispered, "I was so worried."

Slowly, I brought my arms around him, carefully because he felt so fragile (was he eating?). "I'm glad you're alive," I breathed, holding back tears, not wanting to cry in front of Jason.

"I'm glad you're alive, too," Nico responded, his voice thick. He pulled away then. "I'm sorry, too. About what happened, what I kept from you. I shouldn't have done that. I just…" He broke off and shook his head. Then remembered that there were others surrounding us and around him seemed to get…darker. Don't ask me how that works or how he did it, it just did.

"I forgive you," I said quickly, in a quiet voice, trying to keep it between the two of us.

Nico didn't respond verbally, but the darkness lessoned around him and his eyes said, "thank you." He stepped back, a little behind the rest of the group. That's when I noticed that two were missing.

"Where are…Annabeth and Percy?" I asked, looking around at everyone. I could tell something was wrong, because as soon as I mentioned them, they all looked away from me. I swear the temperature around us also dropped ten degrees.

I could see the hurt in their eyes and on their faces. They shifted uncomfortably, some of them furling and unfurling their hands into fists. My heart plummeted, despite my anger at Percy and my rocky relationship with Annabeth, because they were so young and had so much life ahead of them. It just wasn't fair.

"They're not…" I tried breathlessly. The world started spinning. "They're not—"

"No!" Nico exclaimed quickly. "No. It's just they…" He looked away, looking extremely pained. But I didn't miss the flash of another emotion in his eyes. I couldn't pinpoint what it was at the moment, though, because I was still reeling, waiting for him to tell me what'd happened to them. "They fell into Tartarus."

My voice was barely a whisper. " _What_?"

"Annabeth had a solo quest," Frank began, in a small voice. I could see the tears shining in his eyes, like liquid silver in the moonlight. "To find and retrieve the Athena Parthenos. It'd been lost since the Romans invaded Greece. It's what caused the initial split between both sides."

"We were told that it'd heal the rift, and in turn, that it'd prevent a war between our two camps and heal the gods," Hazel continued.

"A war between the camps?" I asked, my throat closing up. My siblings. Dan. Knowing him, he'd want to fight alongside our siblings, our home. I couldn't let him do that, not when he was making a life outside of being a demigod.

"Yes," Leo said, looking down at his shoes and rubbing his arm. "We made it to California all right. We were going to pick up Percy, Frank, and Hazel. And make peace with the Romans. The visit was going fine. It was tense, but they invited us in and we talked. We were talking, and it was all going fine, until…. Until I—"

" _Eidolons_ ," Piper cut in, throwing him a sympathetic look before turning to address me, her look much less sympathetic, though still pained. " _Eidolons_  are malicious spirits. They possessed Percy, Jason, and Leo. The one in Leo took over his body and blew up parts of New Rome, which is what sparked the war between the two camps. And that, in turn, caused the rift in the gods' two personalities as well."

"Long story short," Jason said, sounding impatient as he glared at me (earning some glares of his own). "Annabeth retrieved the Athena Parthenos from Arachne. But it was sitting over an entrance into Tartarus."

"We found her," Hazel quickly took over, in a softer tone. "But what was left of the floor was crumbling fast. We were so worried that the Parthenos was going to fall into the pit that we focused on that, trying to get it into the ship. Annabeth's ankle…" Her voice faltered, her eyes glazing over, like she was being pulled back to the moment she realized something was wrong. "…Arachne's web had wrapped around Annabeth's ankle. It began to drag her down. Percy—" Her voice broke completely and she let out a small sob. Frank went over to her, took her hand, and put an arm around her shoulders. Hazel leaned into him. My heart ached watching them.

After a moment of comforting her, still stroking her hand, Frank looked up at me. His voice was thick and faltering as he finished, "Percy lunged to save her, but the pull was too strong. He wasn't going to leave her behind. So they both…fell together."

It was silent for a long time after, Frank's words hanging in the air. I couldn't believe…they'd fallen into Tartarus? And they weren't that much older than Nico. Still just kids.  _Just kids…_

"I made a promise," Nico said so quiet I almost didn't hear him, breaking me from my thoughts. My anger. "I promised…Percy—I promised him that I would lead the rest of the Seven to the House of Hades in Epirus, to the Doors of Death. We're going to meet them on our side. They're going to make it through Tartarus." That last part was said with strong conviction. I also didn't miss how his voice stumbled over Percy's name.

There it was again.  _Percy_. Something about Percy. It was tickling the back of my head, but I never had time to really analyze it.

Including now.

"I'll help," I said, taking a breath. I believed as much as Nico did that they'd make it through Tartarus. Whenever I thought of Percy and Annabeth, my mind went to me and Luke.

Their love was strong. All they ever needed was each other.

"No."

Jason. Surprise, surprise.

I turned my eyes to him, crossing my arms and glaring. "Apollo sent me, actually. So you don't really have a choice. You wouldn't want to piss off a god, now would you?"

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Jason shot back.

"Have I ever lied to you?" I asked with a sarcastic edge.

"I don't  _trust_  you—" As if to add effect, he grabbed the hilt of his sword.

"You  _don't_  need to remind me," I interrupted, shifting more into a fighting stance. My eyes went to his hand at his hilt and I raised an eyebrow. "I just went through Tartarus and faced the bane of Apollo. You don't scare me."

I was satisfied with the flash of surprise in Jason's eyes before he hid it behind a mask of ice.

"You  _should_ be scared of me," he warned just as the atmosphere changed around us, became charged. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end. I instinctively reached for my own sword.

"Jason, come on, man," Leo said, breaking through some of the tension that was building between me and the son of Jupiter. The electricity in the air disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. "She hasn't killed me yet."

"Not funny, Leo," Jason snapped, not taking his eyes off me. Both our hands were still on our respective hilts.

" _And_ , this is technically my ship. I made it. She's my friend. She stays. And, look, if Apollo said she's supposed to be here, then she's probably supposed to be here."

"He didn't say it explicitly," I clarified. "But he wrote me a note, directing me to Siena. Why else, today of all days, would he do that? If I wasn't supposed to be on this ship, I wouldn't have bumped into Frank."

"I think that's pretty solid," Frank said, his voice a bit small.

"Frank—" Jason tried.

"I say she stays, too," Frank interrupted in a firmer voice before looking at me and offering a small smile. I responded with a grateful smile of my own.

"I agree," Nico chimed in. "It'd be useful to have another person with us. To help me lead you guys to Epirus. Another fighter." Nico looked at Jason, then. "You can't argue with the logistics of that."

"And if she betrays us?" Jason shot back, turning is cold blue eyes on Nico. To his credit, Nico didn't even flinch. If anything, Jason flinched.

"She won't." Nico stated shortly.

"How do you  _know_  that? I can't just trust your word—"

"I  _watched_  the man I loved  _die_ ," I snapped through gritted teeth. I was just so sick and tired of Jason's attitude. Not only that, but I was getting so irritated that my prickles were spiking. " _In my arms_  because of what I let happen. Because he  _knew_ , he realized the mistakes he had made. And he gave his  _life_  to finish what he'd started. To try and fix whatever that was left in Kronos's wake. I have  _learned_  from my mistakes.  _You—can—trust—me_."

Jason didn't stop glaring at me the whole time. When I'd finished, he opened his mouth to say something, but Piper took his hand. He glowered at me for a second longer before turning to look at Piper, his expression softening so much it was baffling to see him change so much so fast.

Piper's expression was pleading. "Let her stay." Her voice was quiet, genuine. There was no charmspeak that I could detect. Though, seeing how they looked at each other, I didn't think she'd ever use charmspeak on Jason, purposeful or not.

They looked at each other for a long time, having what seemed to be a silent conversation. Finally, Jason looked back at me, his expression morphing into a stone again. "Fine. You can stay. But if you make a  _single_  mistake, you're gone."

With that, he and Piper turned, heading below decks.

I let out a big breath. "He's so charming. Much like his father," I commented.

Leo and Frank gave me an apologetic look. Hazel looked a little unsure about me, but didn't say anything. Nico looked relieved to have me here.

"Come on," Leo said. "I'll show you where you…well, a room. I don't know if you'll want to stay in there, though. I'll show you around the rest of the ship, too. Maybe you can pick out a better spot to sleep while you're here."

"Great, I could use some sleep." That was almost a joke, considering how scared I was of going to sleep, lest I be pulled back into Tartarus again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Finally_! I have delivered you another chapter! *insert that girl from those New Year's vines, throwing a bowl into the ground and screaming*
> 
> Anyway, I am so sorry that this took so long. I thought I knew where I was going and then when I finally got there, my brain decided that wasn't the right way to go and so writer's block crept in. It was awful. But I'm so glad that I finally got this to you. (A big thanks to QueenofIce101 (over on FF) for that, she let me give her some spoilers so I could bounce ideas off her.)
> 
> A thing to note, let's just say Hedge is passed out, in a deep sleep in his room below decks. I know it's kind of out of his character, with the rest of them being awake, because despite his violent tendencies, he is a good chaperone, but I realized that he was still on the ship during HOH half-way through the exchange after Tori gets on the _Argo II_ and I'm just too exhausted (from writing, basically this whole chapter all day) to go back and change things so I may add Hedge in. It's also late, and I have to get up early for work. _Also_ , I really, _really_ wanted to get this to you guys after such a long wait.
> 
> I want to give you guys a _huge_ thank you for sticking with me (to the end of the line). It means so much that I have such loyal readers. It really does. I appreciate so, so much and I want you guys to know it. So, thank you. Truly.
> 
> I know it's been nearly a month since my last update, and I apologize for that. I can't assure a shorter update this next time, because, now that I have Tori on the _Argo II_ , I'm going to need to reconstruct the troubles they face throughout the trip to Epirus. I do have some original ideas, but for the most part, I'll need to re-read their chapters and brainstorm how I'll incorporate Tori (whether she's on the quest or not).
> 
> As you may have figured out, the title comes from the song "Turning" in Les Mis. I was unsure at first what the title was even going to be, and then I wrote that sentence, and it struck me: _Perfect_. So I went with it.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated ~~and desperately needed~~! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	36. Hic Sunt Dracones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **TRIGGER WARNING** : suicidal thoughts, contemplation and talk of suicide, mentions of PTSD.

The room Leo had been talking about was Annabeth's. But after hearing that she and Percy were currently in Tartarus, I didn't feel comfortable at all using her room. Leo showed me the lowest deck, then, but we had to squeeze around the Athena Parthenos, which basically took up the whole lower deck. Her feet were in the sickbay, her body taking up the corridor, and her head in the stables. I would've stayed in the infirmary—it was fitting—but felt uncomfortable there, too, as I didn't know how I'd react to waking up to giant toes in my face.

Maybe I'd just sleep in one of the chairs in the mess hall. They were very comfortable. Though, it wouldn't be great if someone wanted something to eat. From what I could tell, they also held meetings in the mess hall, so that wouldn't do, either.

I was too tired to talk to Leo about other options, so I told him I'd find a place somewhere just for the night and we could work it out tomorrow. I was exhausted, dead on my feet, but I still refused to go to sleep. Instead, I asked Leo to tell me what time it was in New York because I wanted to IM my siblings.

It was midnight here, in Italy, so that meant it was six in New York, my siblings' free time.

I wanted privacy, but I didn't want to go anywhere below decks that would give me privacy. It was a bit of a catch 22, so I ended up at the very end of the stern, far enough away from the helm that Leo wouldn't be able to hear, and not anywhere near Festus. It wasn't that I didn't trust any of them if they happened to overhear me, but I wanted this to be private because this was something important to me. I'd made a promise to my siblings that I'd do my best to make it back to them.

I took three pain meds before setting up the prism and flashlight, making a rainbow against the side of the railing. I sat on the floor, shifting and trying to find a somewhat comfortable position before giving up and taking out the coin purse from my backpack. I'd kept it for the coins, but used my fancy leather wallet for my paper money.

I grabbed a coin and threw it into the rainbow.

"O, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering," I managed through my dry mouth. "Show me my siblings."

An image flickered within the rainbow before I saw inside the Apollo cabin. My siblings were in their bunks. Some of them were lying down with their eyes closed, but I could tell that they weren't sleeping. Some of them were sitting up, staring off into space, looking despondent. Before I even had time to react to just  _seeing_  them, Kayla passed by the IM. She was walking with her body angled away from it slightly, but it caught her eye and she froze. She had to do a double take before her face lit up, lips stretched with a huge grin.

"Tori?" she exclaimed, coming up to the IM. It was all I could do to nod. "Guys, get up! Get up! It's Tori!"

They all started to say my name, some questioning, some excited. As soon as they saw the IM, they were all excited. They didn't even notice they were using my nickname and I wasn't correcting them. (Which I didn't mind.) They were all talking at the same time, asking questions, saying stuff I couldn't understand.

Watching them, listening to them, I felt tears well up in my eyes. My throat closed completely and I covered my mouth with my hand as sobs bubbled up to the surface. I missed them, and how much I missed them overwhelmed me in that moment, for I'd been holding it all back until now. But I was exhausted—mentally, emotionally, and physically drained. I couldn't control my emotions so well anymore.

Then Dan and Viola appeared, and I nearly lost it. Tears blurred my vision, but I could hear Viola's excited chirp. When my vision cleared, Dan looked relieved, with a tired smile stretched across his face.

I sat and watched them, holding back outright sobs as Dan quieted them down and got them all organized. They brought chairs from the infirmary so they could all sit and see the IM. Dan sat with Viola in his lap.

"Tell us what happened," Dan requested in a soft voice.

I let out a big breath, and wiped away more of my tears. I had to gather myself as best I could, which they were all respectfully silent for. Finally, when I felt I had it somewhat under control, I began to tell them what happened. I could tell it was hard for them to hear that I'd somehow ended up in Tartarus, but they kept quiet and let me continue. I left out my lack of will to live, and some of the conversations that'd occurred between me and the titans, feeling it was for the best. I didn't want them to worry about me any more than they did, and considering that I wasn't going home any time soon, I didn't want them to object too vehemently.

I also didn't mention that it was most likely Mr. D who'd sent me purposefully to the Underworld to be ambushed. Though, I'm sure if they thought about it long enough and connected the prophetic dream they'd had before then, they'd figure it out. I was afraid they would at some point, but right now, there was nothing I could do about it other than keep the truth from them as long as possible. I wanted them to stay safe.

As safe as they could, anyway, with the Roman camp on their way to CHB.

Speaking of, as good as it was to see my brother, I wanted him to go back to the city and stay there. I knew that'd never happen, and I didn't voice any of these thoughts to him because I didn't want to start an argument. Not right now.

I told them about my fight with the giant, but had left out everything about Gaea. No one could know. This was something I  _had_  to do on my own. The wheels had been set in motion, now I had to follow through. No matter the cost.

I was reluctant to tell them about meeting Apollo, but decided that I kind of had to, considering they knew that giants could only be defeated with a god and demigod working together. I left out the awkward conversation about how he was avoiding Zeus—definitely the fact he was  _scared_  of Zeus—and that he'd given me a rather large present.

This was the first time they interrupted. It was Will, who looked particularly tired. I mean they all did, really.

"Did Dad mention…" Will trailed off, looking uncertain. "Did he mention anything about—" He broke off again, and looked away. My siblings all exchanged looks and I had a feeling I knew what Will was getting at. I had wondered myself and realized I'd forgot to ask Apollo about it because of how our conversation had gone.

"You feel it, too?" I asked quietly.

They all looked back at me and nodded, with worried expressions.

"He hasn't answered any of us," Cressida said.

"We've been praying to him, asking him as we give our food offerings," Lyra chipped in.

"No prophetic dreams," Will added.

"Not even feelings or premonitions anymore," Reed said.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I didn't think to ask. If I find out why, you'll be the first to know, though, I promise."

They all nodded. Then Austin prompted me to finish my story. I could tell immediately they didn't like how it'd ended (despite "forgetting" to mention my little spat with Jason).

"You're not…coming home?" Viola asked, her voice watery, eyes already filling with tears.

"Oh, sweetie," I cooed, wishing with all I had that I could just pick her up and hold her in my arms right then. "I'm sorry, but there's work to do here. I have to stay with them and help them get to Epirus. It's  _really_  important."

She started crying and my want to hold her intensified tenfold. Just watching her crying made my eyes well up with my own tears. Dan held her closer, rubbing her back soothingly.

"You'll IM us, though?" Dan asked. "Update us about what's happened, how you're doing?"

"Of course," I managed, as I realized just how upset this decision made my siblings. Viola was the only one outright crying. But she was eleven, so it made sense. "You can IM me any time, too." I added quickly.

"You'll come back to us," Austin said after a short silence. "Promise you'll come back to us."

I took in a breath, hoping they couldn't hear it. I thought about everything that'd transpired following my trip to the Underworld up to this point, what was at stake with this war, and realized that was just something I couldn't promise.

"I promise I'll do my best," I finally said, my voice shaking. I could tell they didn't like that at all, but they didn't say anything.

Viola started crying harder, sobbing in fact, and buried her head into Dan's neck. All my siblings responded, trying to comfort her, and I wished I could've been there to hold her, because nothing else seemed to calm her down.

So I started singing, "You'll Be in My Heart" by Phil Collins. I modified it a bit to better fit my relationship with her, and the situation surrounding us. When I was finished, to my relief, Viola had fallen asleep. I gazed at her sleeping form for a long moment before looking at all my siblings.

"Tell her I love her when she wakes up for me, will you?" I asked, my voice ragged.

"Of course." Will nodded.

"So, I, uh…see you've still got Nick's lucky coin," Kayla commented with a suggestive smile despite everything that'd just happened. I started, and looked down at my wrist, where the quarter still hung on the Celestial bronze braid. I couldn't help the blush that stained my cheeks, and looked back up at my siblings just as Kayla said, "He's been asking about you, you know. Quite a lot."

I opened my mouth to respond, thought better of my original response and instead asked, "You're not going to tell him, are you?"

"No, we'll just tell him you're okay," Dan assured.

"You're staying at camp?" I asked, perhaps a little too sharply.

Dan frowned. "They need me here."

"Dan—"

"Let's not do this now," Will interrupted in a soft voice. "We're all tired. It's been a long day. Tori you look like you could really use some rest."

I sighed and blinked away the tears in my eyes, looking away. "You're right." I blew out another big breath and looked back at the IM. "I love you guys," I said, my throat constricting. "You know that, right?"

I got some smiles from that, albeit small ones, followed by a quiet chorus of love you too's back.

"You guys should get some sleep," I sighed. "Or try to, at least."

"Same to you," Dan responded with a rueful look.

A small laugh bubbled up to the surface, which shocked me, but felt good. "I'll IM you soon."

I didn't want to turn the flashlight off, but I could feel my body giving out from pure exhaustion. I would IM them, most likely, tomorrow. I tried for a small smile and waved before I slowly reached for the flashlight and clicked it off.

The darkness was almost overwhelming for a moment, nonetheless, I put everything back into my backpack, took two more pain meds, and then got comfortable in my little corner (as comfortable as I could, anyway). I set my backpack in my lap, holding it to me, and closed my eyes. As much as I didn't want to fall asleep, I was out like a light.

* * *

Monsters roared in the distance. My vision flickered from utter darkness, to the flicker of firelight from the Phlegethon, to the blood-red clouds with black creatures flying in and out of them.

My heart was beating out of control. Blood roared in my ears in time with the monsters. I reached for my weapons, but they were no longer there. My panic hit a whole new level. My ears started ringing so loud, it blocked out the sound of everything else, even my own rapid breathing. But I could feel my heart racing,  _pounding_  in my chest so hard it hurt. My whole body was going numb.

I was going to die down here.

Alone.

 _Helpless_.

My vision became hazy, blurring, giving me a headache. My chronic pain was slowly rising, like someone turning up the volume of a radio, but all I could hear was static.

Before me, something was moving. A dark figure, but I couldn't tell through the haze of my own panicked vision and the red-black-orange hues what it was. All I knew was it was big and coming toward me. Slowly, though, like it was stalking me.

I couldn't move, paralyzed without any of my weapons. Completely alone. None of my other senses seemed to be working properly.

Even as the monster got closer, I couldn't make out what it was. But suddenly it stopped. I held my breath and a moment later, the black shadow came flying at me. I can't remember if a scream escaped my lips, but just as it got to me, something touched my arm.

My eyes snapped open and I reacted instinctively—grabbing whoever had touched my arm, twisting their arm behind their back and slamming them up against the floor, face down, holding them there by their twisted arm. Before I'd even fully woken and my vision cleared, I'd unsheathed my dagger and held the blade to the person's throat.

Someone was saying something to me, panicked, but I couldn't make out distinct words. I blinked away the haze and grogginess, only to realize that it was Leo underneath me.

Before I could breathe again, let alone get off him and apologize, thunder crashed. A sharp, painful shock ran through me and the next thing I knew I was airborne. I hit the deck and rolled right into the side of the railing.

Gasping, my whole body buzzing, my head feeling like it was trying to float away from my body, I reached up and grasped the railing. I struggled to my feet as my ears rung. My chronic pain had been amped up to a nearly unbearable level, it was all I could do to stay standing.

Leaning heavily against the railing, I looked across the ship. I was now near the bow,  _that's_  how far I'd been thrown. It was still dark, but I could feel dawn just on the horizon.

Jason was standing where I'd held Leo, glaring at me murderously. He had his sword out, and electricity crackled around him so strong I could see literal sparks coming off him. It surrounded him in an eerie glow with bursts of bright, white light. Leo was next to him, now standing and facing away from me. It looked like he was trying to talk Jason down, but the son of Jupiter was having none of it.

I turned away, my chest still heaving.

I couldn't blame him, really. I'd just attacked someone I called a friend. One wrong move and I could've killed him! Maybe Jason had been right, maybe it hadn't been a good idea to let me on this ship. Clearly I wasn't fit for whatever battles and quests they were going to face before we made it to Epirus. Not to mention that we'd have to go  _back_  into the House of Hades and face our ghosts just to get to the Doors. Which were protected by a giant and that scary lady.

Still gripping the railing, I looked over the edge of the ship. We were still airborne, flying over what looked to be grassy, hilly landscape. In the distance a city glowed, almost simulating the sunrise in the north. I was unsure of which city, though.

A fall from this height would surely kill me. It would be all too easy to just throw myself over the side.

It was becoming obvious, I could barely cope after what happened in Tartarus, so I was of no help to any of them here. My siblings were constantly worried about me, and I only seemed to cause them stress and heartache. What little friends I did have were probably in the same boat. I was just a burden to everyone.

But if I was dead, no one would worry about me anymore. They could grieve and move on with their lives. Fight the war, hopefully save the world. They could do that without me. They didn't need me.

No one needed me.

I couldn't save the ones I'd cared about most, and now I was utterly useless to those I had a chance of helping.

My hand tightened on the railing, the muscles in my body tensing as I prepared to throw myself over the side. Just before I made the leap, a voice shot through the silence like a bullet.

"Don't."

I looked away from the edge, at Nico. He was standing a few feet away from me. Far behind him, near the helm, Jason and Leo still stood. They were both staring at me, Jason still glaring, but Leo's expression was worried.

Amidships were the rest of them—Frank, Hazel, Piper, and a satyr I recognized but couldn't recall the name of. They were all staring at me with varying degrees of anger, confusion, and concern. No one was moving.

"Tori." Nico brought my attention back to him. "Don't," he repeated. I couldn't read his expression.

I glared at him, tears welling up in my eyes. "What are you gonna do? You  _understand_? Tell me it gets better? I'm making a  _mistake_?" I spat, venomously, not letting go of the railing. My chronic pain was fighting to invade my mind. I'd need to make a decision soon or I wouldn't have the wherewithal  _to_  throw myself over the side.

"I do understand," Nico said, taking a small step toward me. I regarded him warily, but he stopped. "But if I'm being honest, life is still just as shitty for me as it was back then. And, you know, your life may follow the pattern of mine."

"Inspiring."

"The goddess of misery cut us a break, what can I say?" Another step toward me.

"If this is your attempt at talking me down—"

"I know, I'm not doing a great job. I've always felt I related more to the dead than the living." Another step.

"And I wouldn't call running through the House of Night 'a break.'"

The edge of Nico's lips pulled up slightly for a fraction of a second as he took another small step toward me. "If you really want to go through with it, there are much better places to do it."

"Better than Italy?"

"Better than off of a flying trireme," Nico amended, closing the distance between us. He lifted his hand and I shifted away from him, but he held it up in a surrender gesture, keeping my gaze, before slowly lowering it onto mine. As soon as our skin came into contact, we were shadow-traveling, Nico gripping my wrist. I sucked in a sharp breath and grasped for his wrist.

When we landed, we were in a small alley. Across the cobbled, narrow street was a small café just opening up for the day.

Nico let go of my wrist and I blew out a breath, tears streaming from my eyes. I fell back against the wall and slid to the ground, keeping my knees bent because the alley wasn't very wide. Nico sat down across from me, mimicking my position, with his ankle pressed up against mine, and let me cry.

Afterward, Nico shadow-traveled back to the ship to grab my bag so I could take some pain meds and so I had my money. Then we went across the street to the small café and ordered hot chocolate. (I'd had no idea Nico knew fluent Italian.)

We sat at one of the small tables, as the street came to life around us and the sun slowly rose in the East. We were in Florence. His mother had taken him and his sister here at some point before she'd died. It was a fuzzy memory for him, but I was impressed he remembered it at all. Of course, I could understand, seeing as he seemed to love his mother a lot, despite not having known her for very long.

I held the handle of my mug as it rested on the table and stared at it silently, listening to the noise of the city. I stroked the rim, suddenly reminded when Will had brought me a mug of hot chocolate, when I'd sat vigil for TJ.

"Chocolate activates the endorphins in your brain," I said, smiling at the memory. It was bittersweet, of course, but thinking about how the harpies had taken to me, and my siblings had sat with me made it just a little sweeter. I looked up at Nico. "Scientific fact."

A smile pulled at Nico's lips and he took a sip of his hot chocolate before asking, "Still want to find a high place to jump from? I know a few buildings in Florence that'd be perfect for dying."

I sighed. "No, I think the chocolate is working."

Nico snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Don't tell Will," I said, staring at my cup, thinking about the first time I'd said that to him.

"I won't," Nico replied softly. "I promise."

I finally looked up and met Nico's gaze again. "Thank you."

"Of course."

* * *

Convincing Jason to let me stay on the ship was a whole other issue. We couldn't stay too long in Florence without the  _Argo II_  completely flying away without us. (I think Leo may have slowed the ship a bit when we'd disappeared, but I'm sure Jason wasn't going to let him completely stop it. This was just a hunch, however, because I never asked.) So we spent as much time as we dared at the little café. But once we finished our hot chocolate, I paid, and we headed back to the small alley we'd appeared in.

By that point I was too tired to argue and have our rivalry match. At least my chronic pain had subsided into something I could handle by this point. Nearly going through with the decision to kill myself was exhausting, both mentally and physically. I wanted to lie down and rest, go to sleep, but that meant more dreams. (I wasn't sure what I was going to do about that, yet, but one problem at a time. I'd burn that bridge when I got there.)

The air around me crackled with electricity, making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, and my ears popped as soon as I arrived back on the ship. Nico stood next to me as the son of Jupiter approached us with a glare so strong he didn't need the electricity to make a point. When he stopped a few feet away, Nico opened his mouth to say something, probably argue my case, but I held out my hand for him to stop, keeping my eyes on Jason.

I met his glare evenly, having seen worse in Tartarus. I did my best not to glare back at him, but even in my exhausted state, I found myself annoyed with his attitude.

"If you will allow me to stay long enough," I started in as even a voice as I could. "I would like to explain, apologize, and ask if you will allow me to continue with you on your journey to Epirus."

I waited, tense, for his reaction. At first, I was afraid he was going to blast me right over the edge himself, but then the static around me lessoned and I relaxed (slightly). Jason stiffly nodded once before turning and heading back toward the helm, where Leo was still stationed. The other crew members were nowhere to be seen. (I wondered if Jason had ordered them to stay below decks until he worked out what he'd be doing with me when I returned.)

When we got close enough, Leo grinned, looking surprisingly relieved even though I'd almost killed him.

"Evil Enchantress!" he called. "You came back!"

I gave him a lopsided smile, baffled he still wanted to remain my friend. "Hey, Leo." We came to a stop a few feet away from the helm and Leo moved out from behind it. Jason went to stand next to his friend. Nico stayed by my side.

"I just wanted to apologize—" I started.

"You don't need to—" Leo interrupted.

"Please," I said in a forceful tone, keeping his gaze. "Let me apologize. You're my friend, and I imagine I hurt you. I could've accidentally dislocated your arm or broken it. I could've killed you. So I'm sorry that I attacked you." I turned to Jason, took a deep breath, and swallowed my pride. "I apologize to you, as well, for hurting your friend."

Jason's icy gaze dropped for a second, surprise flashing across his face. When he got over it, his glare didn't return, much to  _my_  surprise.

"Jason," I continued. "May I ask you a question?" He nodded. "How long have you been in the legion?"

"Just about ten years now," he answered slowly. "Why?"

"Then, surely, after so long there, you've seen cases of PTSD in your comrades. In your elders. I apologize for attacking Leo, but I will not apologize for my PTSD. Which is also why I ask that I stay on the ship. I can still help you. I just ask that you all be more careful about waking me up or startling me." Despite Jason hating my guts, he was also  _very_  Roman, so I figured if I appealed to the logical, rational side of his Roman training, he'd respond in kind.

I could see the gears turning in his head as he thought about this. Finally, "What are you going to do to keep what happened from happening again? You said it yourself, you very well may kill one of us."

"I have someone I can talk to," I assured. Though, I wondered if Rowan would be available still. How that'd work with our time differences and the fact that monsters may attack us and the ship at a moment's notice, disregarding therapy appointments.

Jason paused and thought again. "Fine. You can stay. But—"

"I know." I interrupted.

"You don't know what I was going to say," he complained, frowning.

"I'm saving you the trouble of repeating yourself."

"All right, great!" Leo exclaimed, making me jump and breaking through the tension. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Let's get to work!"

As it turned out, while Nico and I'd been gone, Leo had devised a plan of making the sickbay more comfortable so I'd have somewhere below decks to actually lay down. Before Nico and I got back (even though he didn't know if I'd even be staying), he'd had Frank change into a gorilla (to say I was surprised Frank could shapeshift into animals would be an understand) and push the statue as far into the stables as it would go, until the feet just barely hit the frame of the wide doorway to the sickbay. Then, he'd hooked up some kind of pulley system to the Athena Parthenos at specific points of the statue. With all the crew working together (minus Hedge—I came to learn his name from Nico—who was manning the helm, though I could tell they didn't feel comfortable leaving Hedge alone), we pulled on the ropes and turned the statue until it was resting on its other side.

The small Nike that the statue held in its hand scraped the top of the ceiling a little, but Athena's outstretched arm missed the engine, which is why Leo had Frank push the statue up. Not only that, but since her toes were now sticking into the armory, he wanted to keep it as accessible as possible, seeing as it was an important part of defending the ship. Afterward, we (minus Leo and Hedge) moved all the stuff around her feet so that everything in the armory was relatively easy to get to.

I was so grateful I could've cried. And it wasn't just that, I was grateful he still cared about me so much after I'd nearly killed him.

So I had a place to sleep other than in a corner on the top deck. How I was going to go about healthily handling my PTSD so I wouldn't attack anyone else was a mystery to me. I managed to get hold of Rowan—who seemed really unused to talking to someone over IM—but after talking with them, we decided it wasn't going to work with the time difference and me being on a huge quest. They mentioned a therapy animal, but it was really off-hand since I wouldn't feasibly be able to take care of one while on a giant flying war ship. The best they could do was send over some papers on exercises I could do by way of wind nymphs. There was no guarantee that it would work, it was a lot of trial and error, but I appreciated the effort all the same.

Hopefully, the crew would all just avoid touching me to wake me up in the future so I wouldn't have to worry about it too much. At least until I received those papers.

Once everything had settled down and shifts were switched, I let out a weary sigh, leaning back in one of the beds in the sickbay. I'd just taken two pain meds and desperately wanted to go to sleep. I closed my eyes for a moment, but talking with Rowan had reminded me of all my therapy sessions, the progress I'd made before I was thrown into Tartarus. We hadn't managed to get to Luke or TJ, but I wondered…. Ever since I'd finally worked through most of my grief over the loss of Luke, I'd felt more at peace than I'd ever had before. Even with TJ's death, I didn't feel so heart-heavy. It was like my grief surrounding all the deaths that haunted me had finally been worked through, that tight ball in my chest loosening.

I opened my eyes and sat up, looking at the door to the small bathroom contained there. It was dark inside, and the mirror was out of my view. My heart already starting to pound, I slid off the bed and slowly made my way toward the bathroom. I flicked on the light, keeping my eyes on the floor as I walked up to the sink.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and resting my hands on the sink's edge to steady myself.

Before I could lose my nerve, I opened my eyes and lifted my gaze. And for the first time, in a long time, I saw myself. What was more astonishing was the fact that my reflection stayed, even after staring a few seconds, which turned into minutes, easily.

Once getting over the shock—and, honestly, elation at seeing  _myself_ —I realized that I looked a bit like Nico, but maybe not as bad. I didn't realize how sickly I looked, but my time in Tartarus must've been the biggest factor. I guess Apollo could only do so much without interfering  _too_  much in his children's lives.

Then it dawned on me…how long had it been since I'd eaten when I was in Siena? Now that I thought about it, my stomach let out a mighty growl, feeling painfully hollow. My throat felt dry and my tongue like a Brillo pad in my mouth.

I was about to turn away and go get food from the mess hall when something caught my eye. It was barely noticeable unless you knew what you were looking for, but since I'd been looking at the big, ugly version since I was thirteen, I kind of had an idea. Now that I'd noticed one, I suddenly found myself noticing more and more, all across my body—more in the back than the front.

Scars.

So many scars, long and thin, and almost perfect, like they'd been made from a scalpel. Much like the three an  _empousa_  created starting at my collar bone and going down underneath my arm. She'd attacked my brother one night, when the camp's border had been weakened, and in an effort to save him, the she-demon had nearly killed me.

Except, this time, instead of three, there were many, crisscrossing all over my body. I was startled and worried for a moment, trying to think what could've possibly caused this without my knowledge when I remembered being attacked as I'd gotten into the Underworld. Those demons of disease had scratched at me multiple times.

I guess, while the Phlegethon could heal, it wasn't perfect at it. Much like nectar and ambrosia. Most of the time, depending on the injury, it could help a demigod make a full recovery. But if was too bad, there were multiple, and you had to limit your intake, the best it could do was help the wound scar faster.

I was kind of astonished that no one had mentioned this to me sooner, but then again, scars were a part of a half-blood's life. Still…this was an obscene amount of small scars. Maybe they  _hadn't_  noticed. They were pretty thin. Then I remembered Bridget and couldn't  _believe_  she wanted to be my friend after seeing my appearance. Either way, all this new information was almost too much to take in.

I turned away and quickly exited the bathroom, turning off the light. I was about to lie back down, but my stomach rumbled again. With a groan, I changed my direction, hiked up the stairs, and made my way to the mess hall. After struggling to eat some scrambled eggs and drink water, I went back to the sickbay and fell onto the bed, out before my head even hit the pillow.

I woke to a terrible shrieking. It didn't sound human. At first, I thought I was still dreaming, but when I opened my eyes, I was staring at the wall of the sickbay. I jolted up as muffled voices yelled and the odd, nonhuman crying sounded again. I was covered in a cold sweat, and my heart was pounding from my dreams. Nonetheless, I got to my feet and clumsily strapped my weapons to me, readying my bow and an arrow.

I quickly made my way upstairs, to the top deck. The fresh air blowing against my skin felt good, if not a bit chilling because of the fact that I was drenched in sweat.

I looked around, trying to determine where everyone was, what was going on. When the cry sounded again, I spun around to see Leo, Hazel, and Nico surrounding something. (I guess they'd switched shifts while I'd been sleeping.) They had it pinned in a corner, up against the ship's railing, but they were obscuring my view of what it actually was. Most likely a monster, but why hadn't they killed it yet?

Still gripping my bow and arrow, I started toward them, making sure to make noise, to alert them of my presence.

They all quickly glanced at me before going back to the monster they had cornered.

"Everything okay?" I asked as I came up to them, peeking between their heads. I was startled to find it was a small dragon, about the size of a cat. I hadn't known they could be so small. And a dragon had been the last thing I expected to see. It was very pretty—scales a dark golden color mottled with splotches that looked like a blend of a dark emerald and sapphire color. Its eyes were topaz. Currently, the dragon's pupils were slits at it cowered in the corner and wailed (it'd been the strange crying I'd heard earlier).

"It just flew onto the ship," Leo explained.

"And it won't leave," Hazel added.

"When we realized wasn't doing any harm, we tried to shoo it away, but it won't leave." Nico frowned.

For some reason, and maybe it was because I'd spent a lot of time with Peleus, I found myself feeling bad for the poor thing because it sure looked scared. I put my arrow back into my quiver and let my bow spiral back into a ring on my finger.

"Let me try," I said, pushing between Nico and Hazel.

"I wouldn't—" Hazel tried, but I ignored her, taking careful steps forward, a hand outstretched. Only when I got too close, it blew fire at me and I leaped back, pulling my hand to my chest, feeling residual heat on my hand, like when you accidentally touch something hot.

"You guys have scared it too much," I said, looking at them.

"Not our fault." Leo held up his hands. "We didn't know what to do. We're so used to monsters wreaking havoc."

"Fair enough," I sighed. I squatted down, then and held out my hand, palm up. I watched as the dragon's pupils widened a little as it regarded my hand and then my face. But it didn't move. I tried to think of something that'd help calm it down when I remembered how much Peleus had enjoyed my singing.

Thinking of a song was the harder part, but this time a song instantly came to mind. Granted, it felt a bit childish, but I'd grown up with it and one of the songs I particularly liked, especially when they'd sung it acapella, trying to get Toto unstuck from the sewer pipes.

Trying to ignore the other people around me, I took a steadying breath before I started to sing, "Together We Can" by the Cheetah Girls. As soon as I started singing, I saw the instant change in the dragon. Its pupils widened even more and it lifted its head, tilting it to one side. I continued to sing, stretching my hand out further. Slowly, the dragon came forward (I didn't miss that it seemed to be limping), sniffing my hand before bumping it with its snout, much like a cat.

When I was finished with the song, I smiled as the dragon came even closer and I realized it was rumbling, like Peleus did when he was content. Though, since this dragon was smaller, its rumbling sounded more like a cat's purr than a large, hulking dragon's. I think it wanted to leap into my lap or something, but it seemed to have forgotten its injured leg and let out a small wail before collapsing onto its side.

"Oh, it's all right," I cooed. "I'm going to pick you up now, okay?" I slowly reached my arms out and carefully took it into my arms, making sure to nurse its injured leg. The dragon nuzzled its head underneath my chin and snorted.

I stood and turned toward the other three, watching me with morbid fascination.

"Problem solved." I smiled before heading past them.

"Where are you going?" Hazel called.

"To the sickbay," I answered over my shoulder. "It's injured."

"Can I come?" Hazel asked, to my surprise. I wasn't sure how she felt about me because I didn't interact with most of the crew. Frank seemed more okay with me than he had when I saw him that dream Gaea had shown me, but perhaps it was because he hadn't known it was me he was talking to. I didn't know about Piper or Hedge, either, but again, I didn't really interact with them much. I preferred the shift with the two people who I knew were my friends.

I turned and smiled. "Sure." Then I turned back around and continued below decks. I heard Nico exchanged some words with Leo before I heard an extra pair of footsteps follow me down the stairs. A quick glance behind me told me that Nico had also followed.

When I got to the sickbay, I gently set the dragon on my bed before going to get some supplies. When I turned back to the bed, the dragon had gone to the corner again, and was looking at Hazel and Nico warily.

I gently sat down on the edge of the bed, setting my stuff beside me. "They're okay," I assured. "They were scared, too. But they won't hurt you now." I held out my hand again. Slowly, with topaz eyes flickering from me to them, the dragon inched toward me. I took it into my lap and started to examine its hurt foot. Hazel and Nico took hesitant seats on the edge of the bed across from mine.

Thankfully, as far as I could tell, just a bad cut, most likely from a sword. No broken bones. I carefully cleaned the cut and then wrapped a bandage around its foot. When I was done, the dragon was rumbling again and puffed smoke happily.

"It's so cute," Hazel commented. "Do you think I can pet it?"

"I think so." I looked down at the dragon again. "Can Hazel come closer?" I pointed to the girl across from me. The dragon gave her a weary look, but I gently patted its stomach. "She won't hurt you, I promise. Neither will he." I pointed to Nico. I waited a moment before the dragon finally turned its eyes away from the two and rested its neck in the crook of my elbow. I looked up at Hazel, then, and nodded.

She slipped off the bed, staying low to the floor and inched forward. The dragon's eyes flickered toward her, but otherwise stayed still. Slowly, Hazel began to stroke its back. After a moment, it rumbled, closed its eyes, and shifted a bit to get more comfortable.

"I think it likes that," I said quietly, smiling at Hazel who smiled back.

"So…are you going to name it?" Nico asked after another quiet moment.

"I think so." I looked up at him. "Do you want to pet it?"

Nico shook his head, looking uncomfortably at the dragon snoozing away in my lap. "Animals don't…really like me. I smell like death to them."

"Do dragons really count as…animals?" I asked, more as a rhetorical question than anything.

"I would think so," Hazel answered, thoughtfully, still stroking the dragon's back. "There's the komodo dragon, right? That's, like, a proper dragon even though it's not…mythical."

"I suppose that makes sense." I said. Then I looked at Nico. "Hazel seems to be okay petting it."

"Yeah, well…she's Hazel, so she doesn't count," Nico responded.

Hazel pouted and turned to look at Nico with a sour expression, her hand stilling. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You befriended a horse god that eats gold and bit off another person's whole arm," Nico deadpanned. "You're much better with animals than I am."

Hazel relaxed and turned back to petting the dragon.

"Did you really?" I asked, amazed.

Hazel hunched her shoulders, blushing. "Arion," she said, nodding. "He runs so fast, he can run on water, up cliffs, no problem. I mainly like horses. But this little dragon is pretty cute."

I looked down at it and smiled. "It really is."

We headed back up to the top deck after that, because we were still on duty to protect the ship. Well, Hazel and Nico were. I guess they hadn't woken me up because they either thought I could use the sleep, or didn't want to be attacked. The latter was a fair point. If it was the former, I was a little annoyed because I wanted to contribute as much as I could. Jason was letting me stay as a courtesy, I wanted to be useful.

Anyway, I asked Leo to help me determine if the dragon was male or female because I wanted to stop referring to it as, well, "it." Since he had that nifty Archimedes sphere and a computer installed into the helm, I figured he'd be able to do it.

"So, then, have you been thinking of a name?" Leo asked as he pressed some buttons and fiddled with his Archimedes sphere. I had no clue  _what_  he was doing, but I didn't question it.

I paused, thinking. "Either way, I think I'll name this dragon Audrey II." I told him.

Leo gave me a weird look, as did Hazel and Nico.

"What happened to the first one?" Leo asked, hitting a button on the console and flipping a small switch before turning to look at me.

I rolled my eyes. "It's a reference to a musical:  _Little Shop of Horrors_?"

Leo shrugged. "Never heard of it."

I looked over at Hazel and Nico, who also shook their heads.

"Well, it's a great musical, we should watch it some time," I said. "Long story short: there's a character named Audrey. And the other main character, Seymour, has a crush on her, and after finding a sentient plant that he doesn't know is sentient just yet, he names it the Audrey II, after Audrey. It was one of the productions my brother was in."

"And, uh…what exactly happens in the end? From what I know of the media I  _have_  seen, sentient plants aren't… _good_." Leo asked.

"Oh, they all get eaten by the plant," I told him, nodding. "But it's not some ominous foreshadowing. It's just a reference to a good musical. And, obviously, this isn't a plant." I held out Audrey II slightly before bringing it back to my chest.

"I think it's fine," Nico commented.

"I think that's so cute!" Hazel said.

I smiled at them, as a silent thanks for their support before looking at Leo again. "So?" I prompted.

Leo continued to give me a worried look for a long moment before turning back to the helm. "This is why your nickname is Evil Enchantress, you know." He gave me a look. "One of these days, you're gonna get me killed."

"Hopefully not because of my PTSD, though," I joked. Leo faltered, letting out a nervous laugh. "It's fine. I apologized, I'm still on the ship, and you said we're still friends." I also loved gallows humor.

Relaxing, his smile becoming more genuine, he finally answered my question, "Female."

"Great, thanks!"

"We're seriously going to keep…Audrey II?" Leo asked.

I shrugged. "Already named her, too late now."

"And how are you going to feed her?" Nico questioned.

"I'll figure something out," I told him.

I think one of them was going to ask another question, but we were suddenly interrupted by three gryphons swooping down onto the  _Argo II_. Festus sounded the alarms and started blowing fire at the others that were coming toward us. Audrey II stirred. Not wanting her to get more hurt, I dashed to the stairs, dodging beaks and talons as I went, to go set her in the sickbay on the bed, before sprinting back up the stairs and helping out the other three to fend off the monsters.

* * *

"You're driving me  _insane_ ," I commented in a tired voice, glaring at Leo over my shoulder. I was currently lying on the bed in the sickbay. I was facing the wall, on my side, curled around Audrey II, who was easily snoring away. Unfortunately for me, Leo was fiddling with the Athena Parthenos, crawling over it from head to toe, and I could hear his movements echo throughout the ship. I couldn't get to sleep because every time I was about to actually fall asleep, Leo would do something and it'd wake me up. In my half-sleepy state, my brain went into a panic, thinking the sound was a monster.

Leo paused, backing out of wherever he was crawling into to glare at me.

"I can't sleep," he said.

"So, what? You don't want to suffer alone?"

"I'm trying to figure out if there's something… _more_  to this statue," Leo explained. "We've been told that this statue is supposed to heal the rift between the two camps so the rift in the gods can heal, too."

"Which is a good thing because…?" I prompted, carefully shifting to my other side so I didn't have to crane my neck to look at him.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Well, considering we have to fight giants soon, and they can only be defeated by demigodsand  _gods_  working together, if we don't have gods, well…I think you can do the math."

I shook my head and made a face. "No. I was terrible at math in school."

Leo snorted, but a smile pulled at his lips. I couldn't help but grin back at him.

"I'll try to be quieter," Leo finally said.

"Thanks." I rolled back over to my other side, petting Audrey II's back for a few moments before closing my eyes again.

To his credit, Leo did try to be quieter, but my brain just wasn't wired like it was used to. Not after Tartarus. He made less sounds, trying to crawl over and under, but I still heard them. They still echoed throughout the hull and I still couldn't get to sleep. Eventually, I became so exhausted, I fell asleep.

Tartarus pulled me back into its depths.

I was wandering the black sand and glass-shard landscape alone. Monsters roared in the distance. The Phlegethon flowed beside me. My lungs burned and I had to suppress the urge to cough. I checked for my weapons, but they weren't there, like usual in my dreams. I could feel eyes on me just as something moved in my peripherals. I jerked my head in that direction and didn't see anything. To my left, I heard scuttling across the sand and spun in that direction, but still nothing.

My heart started to pound harder, faster. I could feel the monster was closing in on me. My whole body tensed instinctively. Just when I thought my heart would give out, the monster appeared. It was one of the winged demons from the clouds. It dropped nearly right in front of me, sending up dust.

I stumbled back, coughing, and tripped on something. The glass shards bit into my skin and I bit back a yelp, though it came out as a whimper instead.

The monster started forward and I started to back away, still on the ground, my panic and fear overtaking logic. The glass started to cut my arms up even more and I had to stop moving. I tried to get up, but the monster leaped forward and landed on me, forcing me back to the ground.

My heart was speeding out of control, I was gasping for breath, my vision was going dark. My arms stung and I could feel the blood dripping from them. I could feel the weight of the monster on top of me. I thought my head was going to explode, and just when I thought the monster was going to deliver the fatal blow, something prodded my nose.

I gasped at the shock of it. It wasn't painful at all, just a gentle prod. The weight of the monster was still on me, which just confused the fuck out of my brain.

Then it came again. By this time, my vision had gone completely dark and wasn't coming back, so I wasn't sure what was going on anymore. I struggled to open my eyes as my nose was prodded more rapidly.

Finally, they snapped open and I jolted up, gasping. My heart was still racing as I looked around the room in alarm, for any danger. It was dim, the lights off, but just as I thought this, they flickered on. I blinked as my eyes adjusted. Thankfully the light wasn't too bright or blinding.

Audrey II landed on the edge of the bed, carefully, so as to not hurt her wounded leg. I could only assume she'd been the one who'd turned on the light. There was no one else around, anyways. She got up into my lap and nuzzled her nose underneath my chin, rumbling.

I reached up to pet her, feeling my heart settle a little. I quickly got up before she got too comfortable to take three pain meds, then sat back down, pulling Audrey II back into my lap. I sat on the bed so I could lean my back against the wall, and continued to pet her as she got more comfortable in my lap. I rested my head back, letting out a small breath and closing my eyes. The weight and warmth of Audrey II in my lap was surprisingly comforting.

I mostly dozed after that, not quite falling asleep fully. I thought I would at some point, but before I could, someone knocked on the doorframe. I struggled to blink the sleep and weariness from my eyes as they focused in on Leo, standing in the doorway.

"Meeting in the mess hall," he said. He looked a little frazzled, and sleep-deprived. I frowned, wondering what that was about.

"You want me there?" I asked, lifting Audrey II into my arms so I could slide off the bed.

Leo managed a tired smile. "You're part of the crew now, so of course."

I couldn't help the answering smile from pulling at my lips. With Audrey II still in my arms, snoozing away, I managed to take a few pain meds without disturbing her before following Leo up the stairs and down the corridor to the mess hall. Everyone else was already situated. Jason was at the head of the table. Hazel and Frank sat next to each other on one side, with Nico on Hazel's right and Frank on her left. That left room for me and Leo, plus Piper, only she was top deck with Hedge, manning the helm.

I let Leo take the seat closest to Jason and sat next to Leo, putting Audrey II in my lap. I tried to keep my eyes off the walls that showed real-time feed from camp. If I thought about camp too long, I thought of my siblings, and when I thought of my siblings, my heart always ached.

Frank was munching on some pancakes, and the others' plates were filled with food, too, but they weren't really eating anything.

I looked at my empty plate, feeling hungry but miserable. My usual go-to scrambled eggs appeared. I decided I'd pick at them, but wasn't sure if I could stomach them at the moment.

It wasn't until Jason said something about the House of Hades did I get pulled back into the conversation. But when Nico sat forward and started to explain what it was, I zoned out again, trying not to get caught up in my memories of that place.

I had almost run off. I had  _wanted_  to run off, to follow the voice of my mom, calling my name…. Then I remembered the warning, a whispering voice I didn't recognize:  _You will come to know the true meaning of sacrifice._  I couldn't shake that one, as much as I tried. It sat at the back of my head, like a hellhound, waiting in the shadows to pounce. It  _had_  to pertain to the choice Gaea had offered me before siccing one of her giants on me. I just wasn't sure how, yet, and I loathed that feeling.

I was so caught up in my own worries and thoughts that I hadn't even noticed I missed most of the conversation. Before I could even jump back into it, though, the ship lurched suddenly, like it'd hit something large. What could be large enough in the sky to make it lurch  _that_  much had me worried.

The plates and goblets slid across the table. Nico fell out of his chair and I flinched when his head connected with the sideboard. He fell to the floor, some of the plates and goblets following his lead.

"Nico!" Hazel leaped from her chair to help him.

Frank stood, asking "What-?" but was cut off when the ship jolted again, causing Frank to stumble into the table and do a face-plant into Leo's scrambled eggs.

Audrey II was awake now, pupils slits, growling, steam coming from her nostrils.

"Look!" Jason pointed at the video walls. I stood, Audrey II easily hopping onto my shoulder, having adjusted to nursing her injured foot, and looked at the feed. The images of camp were flickering, changing to something else.

"Not possible." Leo's voice was barely a whisper, low and incredulous.

I nearly leaped away from the port-side wall when a huge, distorted face flashed on screen showing gross, crooked yellow teeth, an unkempt red beard, a warty nose, and two mismatched eyes that looked like they were inspired by a Picasso painting.

The surrounding walls continued to flicker, showing what was going on above deck. From what I gathered, it looked like two gnome/chimpanzee creatures, who were dressed in garish, loud outfits, were wreaking havoc topside. They'd duct taped Piper to the helm, from the shoulders down, and her mouth was gagged. Hedge was bound like Piper but to the mainmast, and, for some reason, had small pigtails in his hair with pink rubber bands.

The one who'd been taking up the screen on the port-side wall had pulled away and was now leaping across the deck, stuffing a burlap sack with anything and everything it found interesting—Piper's dagger, Leo's Wii controllers, weapons that'd been left on the top deck. When he got to the Archimedes sphere, our shock broke.

"No!" Leo shouted.

Nico groaned from where he was on the floor. Some part of me knew I should help him, even if I couldn't heal him magically, but the other part wanted to help with the weird gnome chimp things.

"Piper!" Jason cried.

"Monkey!" Frank yelled.

"Not monkeys," Hazel muttered, still kneeling next to Nico. "I think those are dwarfs."

I'd known we were supposed to look for some dwarfs in Bologna, because Leo had debriefed me on Hazel's meeting with Hecate. This was not how I was expecting it to go. I should've known we weren't getting all the pertinent information. Leave it to a god or goddess to steer us straight into chaos. Even if they were trying to "help" us.

"Stealing my stuff!" Leo snarled, running for the stairs.

I was about to follow him, but looked back at Nico and Hazel.

"Go, I'll take care of Nico," she said, nodding at me.

I nodded back before following Leo, Jason, and Frank. Up top, Hedge and Piper were struggling uselessly in their binds. One of the dwarfs kept prancing around the deck, picking up anything that was smallish and not tied down and shoving it into his sack. He had to be only four feet, with bowed legs and feet like a chimp's. I could barely hear anything else over his outfit, though: green-plaid pants pinned at the cuffs, held up with bright red suspenders, and a striped pink-and-black blouse. Each arm had at least 6 golden watches and to top it off, he sported a zebra-print cowboy hat with the price-tag still attached. His skin was covered in unkempt red fur.

Before I could  _do_  anything about anything, I heard a soft  _click_  from behind. My stomach dropped and my heart beat painfully in my chest when I registered what it was, before I dove away from where it'd come from. (I hated feeling so blind! I would bet you a thousand gold drachmas, had I still had my prophetic abilities, I would've known what was coming. At the very least, I would've been more prepared.)

"Duck!" Leo yelled, diving to the deck just as the explosion went off. I didn't know what kind of grenade the other dwarf had just set off, but it wasn't pleasant in the slightest. I was still alive, though, which was the good news. The bad news, my ears were ringing so loud, it was making me nauseous. Not helping with my nausea was the fact that the world had tinged a strange pink color.

I could still smell, and as I rolled over, trying to get my limbs to work, the scent of heavy perfume and monkey washed over me. I felt flutters at my neck, wrist, hand, and waist, but it was gone in an instant.

I tried to focus more, shake off whatever that grenade had done when I realized I recognized the feel of magic. A magic grenade? It was different than the magic of charmspeak or the Mist. But it felt familiar somehow. Why, I wasn't sure. Summoning what knowledge I knew from my training with Lou, I struggled to contain it, to push it out of my system.

It took me a moment, but when I finally got the hang of it, I expelled whatever magic was there, leaving no trace except a bad taste in my mouth. My ears stopped ringing, the world turned to a normal color, and I jolted up, remembering the situation we were in.

I looked around to see that Jason, Leo, and a giant silverback gorilla (must've been Frank) had been knocked flat. Audrey II was lying beside me, completely out. Still breathing, thankfully. I looked back up just in time to see the brown-furred dwarf trying to pry Leo's toolbelt from his waist.

"Hey—" I started, but realized something. I looked down at my waist, where my sword and dagger  _should have been_. They were no longer there. White hot anger boiled in me, but when I remembered the other pressure at my neck, wrist and hand, ice water rushed through my veins.

I checked for my necklace— _gone._  Then my bracelet with Nick's lucky coin— _gone_. Then the ring Luke had given me— _gone_. The only piece of jewelry I was left with was my bow-ring and I could only fathom it was left was because it wasn't shiny.

I felt a surge of panic rush through me so strong, it stole my breath. The sounds of alarm and chaos dimmed to almost nothing, I could count every painful heartbeat, and my vision tunneled, focusing in on the dwarf who'd finally managed to get Leo's toolbelt as he danced over to the nearest ballista, hopped onto the projectile like it was a skateboard, before being shot into the sky. The other dwarf went over to Hedge, smacked him on the cheek, then went back to the rail. He bowed to Leo, doffing his cowboy hat with a flourish, and backflipped right over the side.

I felt something snap and I was on my feet and moving before I even gave my body command to. I catapulted myself down the steps, to the sickbay, where I kept my personal stash of weapons. I strapped the extra dagger to my waist, and slung a quiver of arrows over my shoulder, taking out a specially made arrow for occasions like these.

Leo had helped me design and craft it (well…I say help, I gave him the idea and he made them). It was a solid Celestial bronze arrow with a rope braided from Celestial bronze at the end of the arrow, which was attached to a belt. I secured the belt around my waist as I sprinted back up the stairs. Despite my chronic pain having risen slightly to the point that I'd have to work harder to ignore it, I didn't have time to take pain meds. I needed to get my stuff back! I felt strangely lost without them, hollow, weightless. It was a very uncomfortable feeling.

I didn't even steal a glance to see what the others were doing as I pinpointed the ballista the dwarf had shot his friend off of. Then I ran to the opposite side of the deck, grabbed onto the railing, and launched myself right over the side.

I let my bow spiral out and knocked the arrow as I fell, scanning the surrounding buildings, making quick judgements of how high I'd need to be in order to get my swing just right so I could land on the ground without breaking anything. When I pinpointed the building, I shot my arrow into the side of it, using it as my anchor. The rope pulled taught and I sliced through a relatively empty side-street, paying no mind the startled and frightened Italians. My mind was only focused on one thing and one thing only: getting my belongings back.

Somehow, by some miracle, I'd done my calculations just about right. When I felt myself being pulled up by the rope, I deftly undid the belt from my waist, tucking and rolling. I used my momentum to then catapult myself forward and began running in the direction the projectile had been shot, hoping to find the thieving dwarfs.

* * *

Somehow, Jason and Leo found them before I did. I hadn't realized they'd also gone looking for the dwarfs because I'd been so single-minded about getting my things back. I would've torn Bologna to shreds trying to find them if I had to. It wasn't even about my sword or dagger, really. It was about my jewelry. Those items meant too much to me. I  _couldn't_  lose them.

I heard their voices before I actually saw them. I was jogging down a narrow alleyway that led to an opening—most likely a piazza. They were popular in Italy.

I suppose "somehow" wasn't really the best word to use. I'd had to slow down multiple times to catch my breath. Tartarus's air had done a number on my lungs, which meant I had to learn to pace myself in a different way than usual. It also meant that it would affect my singing. I hadn't noticed it when I faced Asterius because I'd been so focused on surviving. Now that my life wasn't in imminent danger, I could  _feel_  it. I was hoping I'd be able to retrain my lungs to hold more air.

Nonetheless, just because I had to breathe more when singing, didn't mean I couldn't or that my voice still wasn't on the level of Orpheus's, so this concern wasn't much of an issue.

My now-shitty lungs would only be a concern if I needed to run a long distance. Like I was doing now.

Anyway, their voices floated down the small alley. I only recognized two, the two others I didn't, so I figured they belonged to the dwarfs.

"It's mechanical," Leo's voice sounded. I was unsure of what he was talking about, looking at. "Maybe a doorway to the dwarfs' secret lair?"

"Oooo!" another voice shrieked, one I didn't recognized. "Secret lair?"

Another unrecognizable voice followed, "I want a secret lair!"

I ran forward, keeping light on my feet, not wanting them to know I was there. I wanted to go for a stealth strike, though I wasn't going to dust them just yet. I wanted to make sure they had my jewelry before, or I'd never find it.

I stopped, making sure to keep in the shadows and out of sight, as I peeked around the corner.

It was a small piazza, with a statue of Neptune in the middle. As was the way of Italian statues of gods and goddesses, Neptune was naked, his hip thrown to one side. He held a trident in one hand, the other outstretched like he was summoning something to it. On either side of the statue were small winged Cupids chilling. There was also a large stone basin, like it was supposed to be a fountain, but there was no water running, and no water in the basin from what I could tell.

Leo stood in it, close to the statue. Jason stood outside of the basin, his sword at the ready. He was glaring up at the brown-furred dwarf, who wore a lime green bowler hat, perched on the pedestal at Neptune's feet, above Leo's head. Farthest away from me, sitting at a café table, sipping espresso, was the red-furred dwarf.

"If we had a secret lair," Cowboy Hat said, "I would want a firehouse pole."

"And a waterslide!" Bowler Hat added as he pulled out random tools from Leo's toolbelt before haphazardly tossing them aside. I drew back and let my bow spiral out, thankful they hadn't taken this.

"Stop that!" Leo exclaimed as I knocked an arrow and turned back around to look into the piazza.

"Too short?" Bowler Hat asked, momentarily stopping his perusing of the belt. I scanned the area, trying to find a good opening. I was vindictive and dramatic, I admit it. Being angry on top of it all didn't help my mood. So I was waiting for the perfect time to make my presence known and sufficiently scare them, to make sure they wouldn't be messing with me at all. Ever. That is if they survived that long.

Leo glared at Bowler Hat. "You're calling  _me_  short?" His head darted around the piazza, looking for something, but he didn't find whatever it was he was looking for. Instead, he turned back to look up at Bowler Hat. "Give me my belt, you stupid—"

"Now, now!" Bowler Hat interrupted, looking scandalized. "We haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Akmon. And my brother over there—"

"—is the handsome one!" Cowboy Hat grinned and raised his cup in a salute. I smiled to myself and lifted my bow and arrow. "Passalos! Singer of songs! Drinker of coffee! Stealer of shiny stuff!"

As soon as he'd finished speaking, I shot my arrow shattering his cup of espresso. Passalos' already wide eyes grew wider and he shrieked, dropping the saucer and jumping back. Before any of them could react other than slack-jaws and panicked looks, I drew another arrow and shot Leo's belt right out of Akmon's hands, pinning it to the wall of the café, making sure not to hit any of the pockets, of course.

Passalos had reminded me I could sing to keep them in their place, and so I did. Letting my arrow spiral back into a ring, I began to sing a song that seemed…fitting for this situation. It was a song I'd heard while listening to the radio while doing chores and I'd fallen in love with it. Which is odd to say, considering the contents of the song, but after all I'd been through, I felt a connection to its lyrics.

"Control" by Halsey.

My voice echoed hauntingly off the alley's walls, and I didn't step out until I got to the chorus, and when I did, I walked slowly toward them, unsheathing my extra dagger. Like I said: dramatic. (Something else I got from my father, I supposed. Though it was cringe-worthy to think about. Sometimes I really did hate being reminded that I was related to him.)

I stopped a few feet from the statue. And when I finished the song, the dwarfs were amply petrified to their spots at the café table and on top of the fountain's pedestal. Jason and Leo looked pretty scared, too.

" _Seirína_ ," Akmon whispered, his voice shaking.

I smiled without humor. "Oh, my reputation proceeds me. It's good to know even the monsters across the ocean know my name."

"Siren," Leo translated. His eyes were stricken, like the dwarfs'. And at first, my heart plummeted, thinking I'd finally done it, found a way to push him out of my life. But then the expression melted and he shook his head. "I knew you were going to get me killed one of these days." He gave me a lopsided grin. I couldn't help the relieved smile back.

"What can I say," I shrugged, throwing my hands up slightly. "I live up to my name. Both of them."

Jason took in a breath, about to say something, but before he could, Passalos interrupted him. "What do you want?"

I glowered at him. "I think you know exactly what I'm here for." My eyes flickered to the sack sitting at his feet.

"Take anything you want!" Akmon wailed. "Just don't sing again, please!" I was suddenly reminded of the  _arai_  in Tartarus, but quickly shook it off, hoping no one noticed.

"Slide it over," I told Passalos.

Woodenly, like it was physically painful for him to move, Passalos slipped from his seat, bundled up the sack a little tighter and then passed it over to me. Then he stood there, watching me with scared eyes. I glanced Akmon. He seemed to be in the same boat, still paralyzed by fear.

Some part of me pleased I'd scared them so much. Another part of me was scared that I'd scared them so much. I knew my voice was powerful, but it was obvious, used in the wrong way, it could hurt a lot of people.

I glanced at Leo, who seemed in awe. Well, maybe not my friends.

"You should…" I trailed off, pointing to his toolbelt. Leo blinked from his daze and nodded.

"Right!" He ran over to it, getting a chair from one of the tables to stand on.

I turned my attention to the sack. I kneeled down, sheathing my dagger, and opened it up. I pulled out a bunch of odds and ends from the ship. When I got to Piper's dagger, I handed it to Jason. He looked a little stunned at my gesture, but I was too busy to care. I pulled out my own dagger, and my sword. And then, finally, when I was just about to start panicking there they were, my jewelry. Because they were small, they'd sunk to the bottom of the sack.

Letting out a breath and feeling tears sting my eyes, I reached in and brought out my necklace, bracelet, and ring. I stared at them, resting in my palm for a long moment before putting them back on my person. With their familiar weight, I felt at peace again, glad I hadn't lost them for good.

"Where's my sphere?" Leo asked, breaking me from my thoughts. He had his belt back on his waist, but was now looking through what I'd laid out from the sack.

I stood and looked back and forth between the two dwarf brothers. "Well?"

Passalos swallowed hard before reaching up, still with robotic movements, and taking off his cowboy hat. Reaching inside, like Mary Poppins magic bag, he pulled out Leo's Archimedes sphere and held it out for him to take.

Leo snatched it from Passalos' hand and glared at the dwarf before turning to his sphere and examining it.

"All right, time to do a little house-keeping," I said, looking at the brown-furred dwarf. "Akmon, join your brother over by the café, please."

With hesitant movements, something actually strange to see after seeing how fast and fluid they could move, he hopped from the Neptune pedestal and joined his brother by the café.

Having reattached my sword to my waist, I unsheathed it and began to approach the brothers.

"Wait, please!" Akmon cried, realizing what I was going to do. "It might take us weeks to come back."

Passalos sniffled, tears filling his eyes. "Assuming Gaea even lets us! She controls the Doors of Death now. She'll be very cross with us."

I paused. "Give me one good reason." To be honest, looking at them, cowering before me was pulling at my heart strings. I'd never meant to scare them that much, but they'd stolen something so important to me, and I would always resent them for that.

"We have a stash," Akmon said quickly, hopefully. "We can take you to it. It's in a watchtower, here in the city." Akmon looked at his brother, nodding, who started nodding too.

Passalos looked back at me. "You can take whatever you want from it. Please, just…don't send us back to Tartarus!"

I wasn't sure I trusted them to lead us without trying anything, but then I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. I started, gripping the hilt of my sword, and turned to see Leo, who swiftly pulled his hand away.

"Hecate led us for a reason," he said quietly. "And I doubt that reason was to have our stuff stolen by these guys."

"I wouldn't put it past her," I muttered.

"Leo's right," Jason chimed in. I turned to look at him, and for once, he wasn't glaring at me. I couldn't get a read on his expression though. This kid was just too damn hard to read. He was the exact opposite of an open book. "Perhaps their stash could hold something Hecate wanted us to find. We should let them lead us to it."

"Fine," I said, turning back to the dwarfs and sheathing my sword. "But try any funny business and I  _will_  shoot you."

They both looked at each other, but I didn't miss the mischievous glint light up in their eyes. Hard to spot if you didn't know what to look for. However, it was a glint I knew all too well, having dated a son of Hermes.

I raised an eyebrow and put my hands on my hips. "What? You think I wouldn't be able to hit you?"

The brother dwarfs jumped and looked back at me with wide eyes. It seemed their paralyzing fear was wearing off.

"Well, then, why don't I demonstrate." I looked at Leo. "Do you have any spare change I could use?"

Leo patted his pockets. "Uh, yeah, actually I do." He pulled out a small coin, a 1 cent euro. "Is this too small?"

"Nope, it's perfect." I took the coin from him and showed it to the dwarfs before balancing it on my thumb, so I could flip it. I took a moment to ready myself, then flicked it into the air as I let my bow spiral out. As soon as the coin had left my hand, I pulled an arrow, all while keeping my eyes on the coin. With my bow out, I knocked my arrow and shot it at the airborne coin. The arrowhead passed through easily, the arrow going one way, the coin going another. I watched as it fell, making a clinking noise as it hit the stone in the small piazza.

I looked back at the dwarf brothers, letting my bow spiral back onto my finger. For good measure, I slid the coin over to them with my foot. I gave them a moment to examine the coin.

Finally, they looked back up at me, both of them swallowing hard in sync, which was actually kind of impressive.

I crossed my arms. "You were saying?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was actually going to include the mountain gods/Hazel meeting Hecate scene, but realized that they may have already had that happen. It's hard to tell, with so many POV switches, but I'm pretty sure that scene occurred, they got to Siena, bought Frank new clothes, and then continued north to get to the pass Hecate offered them. That's why it's not included in this (not that Tori was going to meet Hecate, anyway).
> 
> As you can see, I changed around what happened with the Kerkopes, because I'm trying to have Tori actually impact the story, but still get the same outcome, since it's pretty important they find the book and Leo finds the tracking device thing. Anyway, I hope I did it well.
> 
> The scene where Nico is talking to Tori after she's hurt Leo is kind of inspired by the scene in a Deadpool comic, when he finds a girl about to jump off a building. I haven't read the whole thing, only little snippets, but I saw it on Tumblr first, and I really liked how Deadpool didn't do the whole, "It gets better thing." and was just kind of there for her (someone else explained it better than I ever could on Tumblr). I really hope I portrayed it well. I've never been suicidal, so if I got something wrong, feel free to tell me and I will be happy to discuss changes I can make.
> 
> The last little scene with Tori showing off her archery skills by hitting the coin was inspired by the scene in BBC's Sherlock when Sherlock asks Mary to show him her skills with a gun. I really love that scene because it's pretty badass. Also, I figured Celestial bronze is probably stronger than most metals, so it'd be able to pierce through a coin.
> 
> Finally, I'm sorry it took me so long to get this to you. I was having trouble figuring out where I wanted to go after the last chapter, and then I hit some road blocks concerning the future of the story (which I still have to work through; RIP me). But here it is! Finally.
> 
> The title is "Here be dragons" in Latin. I think I'm hilarious.
> 
> As always, hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	37. Come What May

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really random, but I was going through some notes for this story and realized I forgot two little details, and though little, would've made the story that much better. So I went back and changed them. Chapters 23 and 25 have small changes to them if you'd like to go check them out/re-read them. If not, I'll tell you what the changes were at the end of this chapter. I just…even though they're tiny, I feel they're really important to the development of the characters, and I wasn't going to get to sleep if I didn't change them. (I'll never be over the fact that I fucking forgot to include them in the first place, though.)
> 
> Also, lucifersfavoritechild (AO3) wrote another story about Luke and Tori! It's a Soulmate AU and it's called [Colors](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11423040/chapters/25592562). You should definitely go check it out. Because, wow, _good shit_. I read it three times when I first got the email telling me that I'd been gifted a work, and have read it over many more times afterward. It's _incredible_. I _highly_ recommend.
> 
> There's a bit of dialogue from HOH in this chapter, but it can't be helped much. All right, without further ado, onto the story!

We went at a brisk pace, brisk enough to get me panting and wheezing, through the city. And to get my chronic pain levels higher than I would've liked. Finally, when I started regretting not taking pain meds before I left the ship, and desperately wanting some water, we turned a corner and there were the towers. Definitely taller than anything in the surrounding area. There were two of them, side by side, but leaning slightly in different directions.

"It's the one of the right," Akmon said, pointing.

"In a small room at the top of the tower," Passalos added.

I almost groaned just thinking about how much stairs I'd have to climb, how long that'd take me. How painful my chronic pain levels would be when I'd finally made it to the top.

"I can fly us up there," Jason said, surprising me yet again. Though I was secretly grateful I wouldn't have to climb stairs. I was already using up so much energy trying to focus on anything other than the prickles that were slowly invading my mind. "One at a time, of course."

Akmon and Passalos got visibly excited and started toward the towers, but I said, "Hold it!" causing them to freeze. " _One_  of you will go up at a time. One when Jason flies Leo up and one when he flies me up. Got it?"

They both glanced back at me, nodding. I could see the gears turning in their heads, though. One of them glanced at the sack that contained all the stuff they'd taken from the  _Argo II_ , which Leo was holding and had carried.

Without a word, I let my bow spiral out, glaring at them. I was  _not_  in the mood. The movement caught their eyes. That warning was enough. They moved forward slowly, as we followed, up to one of the sides of the right tower. Looking up, I could see small windows at the very top, covered by grates. I vaguely wondered how we'd get past those, but maybe one of them was loose and one of the dwarfs could show us.

Then there was the awkward part of figuring out who would go first. Not only that, but the whole situation was awkward, considering the fact that Jason didn't really like me, and now he was going to be carrying me up to the top of this tower.

"Ladies first," Leo suggested, looking as uncomfortable as I felt.

"Uh…sure, I guess," I muttered, looking at Jason. He also looked  _really_  uncomfortable. What made it worse was the fact that he was blushing.

I stepped closer to him. "Should I just…" I trailed off, robotically moving my arm toward his shoulders. Jason also stepped forward, a little haltingly, his arm coming up, toward my waist.

"Um, you don't mind if I…" he mumbled, hesitantly wrapping his arm around my waist as I put my arm around his shoulders. His face had turned redder.

I heard Leo snicker and glared at him. He was desperately trying to keep a straight face, but was unsuccessful.

"Not helping, Leo," Jason muttered, also glaring at his friend.

Leo held up his hands and stepped back. "I didn't say anything." His eyes shined with amusement and his voice was choked with barely contained laughter.

Giving him one last glare, I turned to face front and prepare myself. "Okay." I said, to tell Jason I was ready. A short moment passed and then we were airborne. I held my breath, tightening my grip around Jason's shoulders. Akmon followed us up after a quick game of rock, paper, scissors with his brother, easily scaling the side of the tower. He slipped in through a grate that was loose. Jason flew us as close as he dared. I carefully pushed open the gate, grabbed hold of the window ledge, and slipped inside.

The room was a bit small, like a broom closet, and I was worried we weren't going to be able to fit all five of us in. There were four windows on each wall, all barred. Shoved into the corners were sacks of treasures they'd collected for however long they'd been on the surface. Their shinies spilled out, across the floor, and I had to sweep them away with my feet as I walked further in to allow room for the rest of them.

Jason and Leo arrived a moment later, Passalos following behind them.

"Do you know what we're looking for?" I asked the boys, glancing around the piles and piles of stuff once more, carefully sitting down in a free spot,  _really_  wishing I hadn't acted so rash when I'd jumped off the ship.

"No idea," Leo said, also looking around.

"Okay." I nodded once before looking at the brother dwarfs. "Stand over there. Don't make any sudden movements. Just because I'm sitting down doesn't mean I can't still shoot you."

They obeyed silently, and Jason, Leo, and I started picking through their shinies, but I had absolutely no fucking clue what it was that Hecate would want us to find. When it came to the gods, I tried not to think about the things they led us into, otherwise I got as angry as Luke did.

Leo seemed to be honing in on some things, though, because he kept glancing back at something I didn't recognize, other than that it was made from Celestial bronze. Finally, he picked it up and examined it closer.

"Take it!" Passalos said, suddenly, making me jump. "Odysseus made it, you know! Take it, and leave. Please don't send us back to Tartarus."

"Odysseus?" I asked, shocked.

"Like,  _the_  Odysseus," Jason added.

"Yes," Passalos squeaked. "Made it when he was an old man in Ithaca. One of his last inventions, and we stole it!"

"How does it work?" Leo questioned.

"Oh, it doesn't," Akmon chimed. "Something about a missing crystal?" He looked at Passalos with a searching look.

"'My biggest what-if,'" Passalos helped. "'Should've taken a crystal.' That's what he kept muttering in his sleep, the night we stole it." Passalos shrugged. "No idea what he meant. But the shiny is yours! Please let us go, now?"

I held up my hand to silence them, watching Leo, who still held the item. His gaze was intense, focused. Now, it could've just been me, but he had a look that told me he was getting a feeling. Like intuition or a gut feeling. I wondered if, because I'd unintentionally relied on my prophetic abilities from Apollo, my intuition would still work. If I'd even be able to tell that it  _was_  my intuition telling me something.

Finally, Leo slipped the item into his belt. Then he turned toward another thing—a black, leather-bound book. The title was gold leaf, in a language I didn't recognize. It seemed pretty out of place compared to everything else in the room.

"What's this?" Leo waved the book in the direction of the dwarfs.

"Nothing!" Akmon exclaimed. "Just a book. It had a pretty gold cover, so we took it from him."

"Him?" Leo pressed.

The brothers exchanged nervous looks. I stood and crossed my arms, glaring at them.

"Minor god," Passalos said. "In Venice. Really, it's nothing."

"Venice." Jason and I echoed at the same time. I frowned, and glanced awkwardly at Jason, shifting on my feet, before Jason looked at Leo, continuing, "Isn't that where we're supposed to head next?"

"Uh…yeah." Leo said, looking back and forth between Jason and me. Blinking, like he realized he was staring, he started to sift through the pages of the book. Finally, after a few moments of leafing through, he looked up at the dwarfs. "Where exactly can we find this minor god?" Leo asked.

"No!" Akmon shrieked, startling so much, my bow spiraled out and my other hand went up to grab an arrow. The brothers froze, looking at me with wide eyes.

I struggled to lower my hand, and let my bow spiral back into a ring. "Continue."

Reluctantly, the dwarfs looked back at Leo, but their eyes kept flickering to me. "Y-you can't take it back to him! If he finds out we stole it—"

"He'll destroy you," Jason finished. "Which is what we'll do if you don't tell us, and we're a  _lot_  closer." He punctuated this by pressed the tip of his sword to Akmon's throat.

"Okay, okay," Akmon cried. "La Casa Nera! Calle Frezzeria!"

"Is that an address?" Leo asked.

The brothers nodded, their heads bobbing so fast, I was surprised they didn't fall off.

" _Please_  don't tell him we stole it," Passalos pleaded. "He isn't nice at all!"

"Who is he?" Jason asked. "What god?"

"I—I can't say," Passalos stuttered.

"You'd better," Leo threatened.

"No," Passalos wailed. "I mean, I  _really_  can't say. I can't pronounce it! Tr-Tr—It's too hard!"

"Truh," Akmon tried. "Tru-toh—Too many syllables!"

They both burst into tears. Despite my resentment toward them, I found myself feeling bad for them. They really were scared that we were going to send them back to Tartarus.

No one said anything, but Jason lowered his sword, looking at Leo. "What do you want to do with them?" He glanced briefly in my direction, and I was once again shocked he was including me in this conversation. "Send them to Tartarus?"

"P-please, don't!" Akmon sobbed.

"We-we led you to our stash," Passalos bargained. "We did everything you wanted."

The more they cried the worse I felt. As far as monsters went, they were pretty harmless. Maybe not in the context of stealing valuable stuff, both in currency and sentimentality, but they were the first monsters I'd met that hadn't tried to kill me on sight.

When I looked at Leo, I could see the gears in his head turning.

"Nothing can slow them down," he murmured. "I wonder…"

"What?" Jason asked.

Leo's eyes cleared and he focused in on the brother dwarfs. "I'll make you a deal." Their tears stopped and they brightened, looking at him excitedly. "We'll take stuff that belongs to us, obviously, as well as the astrolabe, and this book, which we'll take back to the dude in Venice."

"But he'll destroy us!" Passalos cried.

"We won't say where we got it," Leo assured. "And we won't kill you. We'll let you go free."

"Where's the deal part?" I asked, kneeling down, having stood for long enough.

Leo held up his hand. "But in return," he continued, "for us sparing your lives, you have to do something for us. I'm going to send you somewhere to steal from some people, harass them, make life hard for them any way you can. You have to follow my directions exactly. You have to swear on the River Styx."

"We swear!" Passalos agreed, nodding vigorously. "Stealing from people is our specialty!"

"I love harassment." Akmon nodded, alongside his brother. "Where are we going?"

Leo grinned, a mischievous glint filling his eyes. "Ever heard of New York?"

Leo's plan was ingenious, he explained to the dwarfs that they were to go to New York and…harass the Romans that were building their legion next door to CHB. I wasn't sure how the brother dwarfs were going to  _get_  to New York, but they were monsters, so I imagined they had ways to cross oceans easily up their sleeves.

After, the dwarfs left, probably eager to get away from the people with the weapons that could easily send them back to Tartarus. Jason flew us back down to the ground, and we trekked back to the ship. Then we were off to Venice to return that strange black book we'd found.

* * *

"It's nice up here," I commented, looking out over the landscape of Italy below us. From up on the foremast I could see for miles in every direction. If my eyes weren't deceiving me, I could even see the seas that were on either side of the country.

Nico made a noncommittal noise. I glanced briefly at him, he was looking particularly miserable today. I'd come up here to see if I could maybe help him feel less miserable, but I really should've known small talk wouldn't work.

Instead, I got more comfortable—with Audrey II curled around my neck, which surprisingly, was very comfortable and really helped my chronic pain—and admired the landscape. I knew I enjoyed company, even if it was in silence, so I figured maybe so did he. Even if he'd never admit it.

"You seems gloomier than usual," I finally commented. Unless he outright told me to be quiet, I wasn't going to. I was worried about how he was doing after Tartarus. After what happened to Annabeth and Percy. I had barely handled post-Tartarus myself. With the help of Audrey II I was only just coping with my PTSD. The only thing that'd stayed pretty much the same was my chronic pain. I guess it was as bad as it was going to get (it still did spike every now and again like it did at camp, where I couldn't move or speak).

He was thinner than I remember when I'd last seen him, and he looked sickly pale. It only grew worse as the days passed and I was starting to seriously worry about him. But he pulled in on himself, instead of reaching out. So I decided that maybe I should reach out first and see how far I could push my limits with him. I'd encountered this before after Luke had come back from his quest, and I hadn't pushed. Of course, I didn't think Nico would suddenly switch sides and start helping Gaea, but keeping his feeling all pent up didn't lead to anything  _good_.

Nico snorted at my comment. "Thanks."

"Look, I just want you to know that I'm here for you if you need," I said. "And I mean more than just…company. You  _can_  talk to me if you want. About anything. As friends, you know." Nico opened his mouth, but I continued on quickly. "And I'm not saying you  _have_  to. But I know what it's like to feel alone, and I know it helped me when I talked to you."

"Why so chatty all of a sudden? It's kind of freaking me out."

"Because I'm worried about you," I told him honestly. "You've been through a lot in a short period of time. First Tartarus and then losing two of your friends—"

"I don't have friends," Nico muttered.

I frowned. "You don't consider me—"

"I have  _one_  friend," he continued. "Singular."

"Hazel's not your friend?" I asked.

"Hazel's my sister."

"She can't be your friend and your sister?" I mused. Nico looked away, frowning. "My siblings are my friends. Dan is my best friend. So was Luke." I paused. "Besides, I don't think Percy would agree with your original statement."

Like he always did, Nico reacted much more violently than I anticipated at the mention of Percy. He blushed, but his eyes filled with a sadness that made my heart ache and I was jolted by how familiar that pain was to me. Puzzle pieces clicked together, but not enough to give me the full picture. Just an inkling, like a tickle at the back of my throat, which was frustrating, to say the least.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, masking the pain with anger.

"I think he thinks you guys are friends," I explained.

Nico looked away. "He probably hates me." His eyes were far away and if I had a guess, it was the moment Percy had fallen into Tartarus with Annabeth.

"Why do you say that?" I was genuinely confused by this. I knew that Nico and Percy had a rocky relationship—that whole thing with Bianca, then Nico betraying Percy's trust when he'd taken Percy to the River Styx—but I couldn't fathom why Percy would hate Nico.

"I—" Nico started, but broke off and shook his head, not meeting my eyes.

"Well, I don't think Percy would trust just  _anyone_  to lead the rest of the crew to Epirus," I told him. "I think he'd only trust someone special, like a friend." I looked over at Nico. "From what I've gathered about him, having known him for so long, his trust is invaluable."

Nico fell into silence again. I left him to mull that over and turned my attention back to the beautiful view. I'd try again in a moment.

For as much as I hated my father, I found I did enjoy the sun. It was warm, and energizing. But also calming. It threw all the colors into a vibrancy that was sometimes overstimulating, but when I wasn't being overstimulated, it made everything seem that much more beautiful.

"What you said," Nico said, startling me from my thoughts, "about Will. Is it…is it true?" His voice was small, the smallest I'd ever heard it.

I frowned not understanding his meaning. "I've said a lot of things about Will."

Nico laughed, shocking me. It had a nervous edge to it, but for some reason he'd found my comment amusing. He sobered up quickly, though, his face falling. "Well…about still loving him even though…" He glowered like he didn't like where the sentence was going. "In spite of?" It was more of question, like he was testing how it sounded. He shook his head, making a sharp, short noise of frustration. "About loving him." Nico finally said. "All of him."

I blinked, not quite sure where this was going, but more puzzle pieces were clicking into place. "Yes, of course."

"Is it because he's your brother?"

"I think it's more complicated than that," I said.

"How so?"

"Part of it is that he is my brother, sure, but he's also my friend. I also have come to know him. And I do love all of him, but that doesn't mean I…can't find annoying habits he has. Or be angry at him. I can still love him while feeling these other things."

"What about…for bigger things? Like, what if some trait is fundamentally part of who he is as a person?

"Well, I think it would depend on the thing. If he was manipulative or something, I don't know that I'd like him very much. Brother or not. Does that answer your question?"

Nico nodded, chewing on his lip. "And his sexuality…" he mumbled.

"We've been over this," I said, perhaps a bit coldly. "I support him, and who he loves. There's nothing wrong with that or him."

"Theoretically speaking, then," Nico continued, unfazed by my snippy tone. "If someone was…manipulative, or someone you didn't like, if they had a different sexuality than you, would you still support them?"

"Of course," I answered without missing a beat.

Nico finally looked at me, surprise coloring his features. "Really? Even though you didn't like them?"

"I support the right to love who you want to," I explained. "That doesn't mean I'd condone an abusive relationship, say with the theoretical manipulative person and their partner. But they, and everyone else, should be free to love who they want."

Like some switch had been flipped, all the puzzle pieces clicked into place. Every single time I'd mentioned Percy around Nico came rushing through my head, like some kind of silent movie on maximum fast-forward. The way Nico blushed, his stuttering, the startled, wild, scared look in his eyes. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before, when it'd been staring at me right in the face! The internalized homophobia should've been a big clue, but I'd just written it off as the fact that he was originally from the '40s.

"Oh." I breathed.

I could feel Nico's burning eyes on me, as I stared over the stern of the ship. His voice was strained, guarded, and terrified as he asked, "What?"

"I just remembered I have to IM my siblings," I lied. "I'll do that tonight."

I glanced at Nico out of the corners of my eyes to see him slump and his chest to compress, like he'd just let out a big breath of air. I wondered if he believed my lie one bit or if he was relieved I wasn't pressing him about it. Either way, it seemed like we were making progress.

* * *

Audrey II had woken me up from another nightmare two hours ago. After taking two pain meds, I was now sitting, dozing in my cot, with her in my lap, rumbling contentedly. I was in a particularly bad mood. Last night, not only had I somehow gotten a shift with Jason and Piper, but a bunch of malicious wind spirits had tried to attack the ship.

I guess my reputation as  _Seirína_  far,  _far_  proceeded me because before I could even ready my sword, let alone  _think_  about singing, one of them had surrounded me in a vortex, sucking the air from my lungs and making sure no new air could get to me. It wasn't pleasant to say the least, and I blacked out before Jason could destroy the monster.

Thankfully, Hedge was also on duty, so I was taken to the sickbay and left there for the rest of the night. Some part of me felt bad that I couldn't be of any help, but the other part really didn't want to die from suffocation, so it was moot.

Anyway, because of the rough night and waking early from nightmares, I was sleep deprived, my chronic pain at a higher level today, and not  _feeling_  it. I hadn't wanted to go back to sleep afraid of more dreams, though. When Leo ghosted past the doors of the sickbay, I decided to get up. I got ready slower than usual, going to the mess hall to feed Audrey II. I figured out that since the plates could conjure up anything I wanted, they could also conjure up dragon food. It was a nice solution, considering I hadn't wanted to stop every few cities to find some Mist-concealed pet shop.

I sat in the mess hall with her, stroking her spine, but too tired to eat myself. It felt like the pain meds hadn't kicked in, but sometimes I had those day. Once she was finished, she hopped onto my shoulder (her leg nearly fully healed by now) and I ascended the stairs to the top deck.

Almost everyone was up and standing on the starboard rail, staring at something.

The  _Argo II_  was docked a wharf. On one side of the ship stretched a shipping channel and on the other the city of Venice. There were a ton of red-tiled roofs, metal church domes, steepled towers, and sun-bleached building in colors that reminded me of Valentine candy hearts. Which reminded me of the time Luke had gotten me a pillow of one of those chalky, disgusting candy hearts for Valentine's Day in a pale green that'd said U LEAVE ME BREATHLESS in pink lettering. I still had it, hidden in my chest.

Anyway, there were also statues of lions everywhere, as far as the eye could see. Replacing the streets were canals, jammed with motorboats. The sidewalks were crammed with people, mostly tourists.

However, those weren't what the others were looking at. As I got closer to the railing, I saw big shaggy monsters milling through the crowds. What was more shocking was the fact no one questioned this. The monsters were just chilling and the tourists weren't panicking about giant shaggy monsters roaming around. In fact, they were  _petting_  them, of all things.

Audrey II didn't like them. She hissed and her talons dug into my shoulder painfully. I pulled her off my shoulder and into my arms, petting her to calm her down, but also afraid she might leap away and attack one of the monsters.

"What  _are_  they?" Hazel asked just as I heard another pair of footsteps come up the stairs and onto the deck. A glance over my shoulder and I saw it was Frank. I offered him a smile, he returned with his own, though it seemed a little pained.

I turned back to the city, and the weird monsters. Frank came to stand between me and Hazel.

Jason made a disgusted noise. "The mortals think they're stray dogs."

Frowning, I looked harder at the monsters. Sure enough, its image flickered and I saw an old, fat dog takes its place before the shaggy thing returned. Wow. Mist was truly magical sometimes.

"Or pets roaming around," Piper added. "My dad shot a film in Venice once. I remember him telling me there were dogs everywhere. Venetians love dogs."

For some reason it always surprised me how casual Piper talked about her famous, super-star dad. Annabeth had told me at some point during out talks, but it never really sunk in. My mom didn't like his movies.

"But what are they?" Frank asked. "They look liked…starving, shaggy cows with sheepdog hair."

There was a pause as he waited for someone to elaborate, but no one knew what to say because no one knew what they were.

"Maybe they're harmless," Leo finally said. "They're ignoring the mortals."

"Harmless!" Hedge chortled, making me jump. I was glad he wasn't standing right next to me or he might've gotten a face-full of bow. "Valdez, how many  _harmless_  monsters have we met? We should just aim the ballistae and see what happens!"

I'd heard Venice was sinking because of it weight. I didn't think blowing holes into its walkways was going to help. Not to mention the fact that we'd endanger a  _ton_  of mortals. Which was a big no-no on a demigods' "Dos and Don'ts of a Quest" list.

"Uh, no," Leo deadpanned.

"We'll have to walk through them and hope they're peaceful," Frank agreed, but he sounded pretty unhappy about it. "It's the only way we're going to track down the owner of that book."

Leo took the leather-bound book and slapped what looked to be a sticky note on the cover.

" _La Casa Nera,_ " he read. " _Calle Frezzeria._ "

"The Black House," Nico translated, startling me for the second time this morning. He'd appeared right next to me, but his appearance was a lot less nerve-wracking the Hedge's outburst. "Calle Frezzeria is the street."

"You speak Italian?" Frank asked.

Nico shot Frank a glare, but when he spoke his voice gave nothing away, "Frank is right. We have to find the address. The only way to do it is to walk the city. Venice is a maze. We'll have to risk the crowds and those…whatever they are."

Like some kind of cosmic comedic timing, thunder rumbled in the clear sky. I shuddered at the memories it brought back of last night. It felt like the humidity had just risen 10 percent and was only getting higher.

"Maybe I should stay on board," Jason said. "Lots of  _venti_  in that storm last night. If they decide to attack the ship again…"

"And that's my cue to head back to the sickbay so you don't have to drag my unconscious body down there like last night," I chimed in, Audrey II still in my arms, spinning away from the railing and heading below decks without a backward glance. I heard the others talking, but was already down one set of stairs, so it was all muffled.

I plopped down on my cot, blowing out a big breath. Maybe I'd  _try_  to sleep again. I glanced at my pillow, frowning. I usually ended up feeling  _more_  sleep deprived after waking up from a nightmare than just pushing my limits. Still, I was feeling more exhausted than before. Laying back or laying down sounded like a really nice thing to do. Whether or not I slept was still up in the air.

I set Audrey II down on the bed and laid down next to her, curling around her, putting a hand on her back. She gave a small roar, nuzzling her head under my chin before getting more comfortable. I stared at the wall for a moment before deciding to close my eyes.

For the first time, in a long time, I had a demigod dream.

The first thing I saw damn near jolted me awake, I swear. At first, I thought he was Luke, at age sixteen or seventeen. But when I looked closer, it was obvious this wasn't Luke at all. He was a hair shorter, his blond hair was lighter, and he was lanky, not muscular at all. Not to mention he wore a purple Camp Jupiter tee with a toga over it. Around his waist was a belt with stuffed animals on it. (I'd seen stranger things, believe it or not.) Currently, he faced away from me.

We were standing in some kind of open-plan temple, with a domed ceiling above and a marble floor etched with mosaics and Latin below. At the center stood a marble alter, with a massive golden statue of Zeus—or Jupiter, rather—with a toga of his own, deep purple, holding his lightning bolt.

The wind whistled and howled around us, making my hair, even in its braid, whip around, as well as the boy's hair and baggy clothes. The boy before me, facing the alter, seemed unfazed by this as he stared down at what was before him.

His hands hung limply at his sides, in one an Imperial gold (as I would learn from Leo, that was what the weapons Camp Jupiter used), and in the other, a gutted stuffed animal.

His head was also low, as he continued to stare at the white stuffing, presumably from the stuffed animal. It seemed, somehow, unaffected by the wind blowing through the temple.

"You have honored me with the gift of foresight," the boy spoke, making me jump. Even through all this wind, his voice sounded loud and clear, as if there was no wind and he was standing right next to me. "And for that, I thank you." His grip tightened on the hilt of his dagger. "But I know that I am  _meant_  for  _more_. I am  _meant_  to do  _greater_  things. Please! You  _must_  send me a sign."

He threw the gutted stuffed animal from his hand, ripping another from his belt, and mercilessly tearing through the new one, throwing the stuffing out onto the alter.

The wind grew stronger and louder. The boy threw his head back, throwing his hands into the air, and yelled something. I knew they were words, but the wind had picked up too much for me to understand  _what_  he was saying. Going by the slightly crazed look on his face, though, told me that I might not like what he was yelling about. Still, I was irritated that whoever was sending me this dream thought it necessary to keep the crucial details from me.

The boy turned, startling me yet again. His eyes were looking at something above my head, a stretched smile pulled at his features as he continued yelling, throwing his arms out in front of him as if asking for a hug.

Then his eyes met mine and I froze, my heart stopping. It couldn't be real, I wasn't  _really_  here, but it sure felt like he was looking  _right at me_. He continued yelling, the wind growing louder and stronger. I still couldn't hear what he was saying, but time seemed to slow as I stared at his lips trying to get even a hint at what he might be saying, when I saw, clear as day, "Thank you, Lord Apollo."

Thunder crashed, shaking the temple, and lightning flashed. My vision filled with white light and when it faded, I was standing in the middle of the dining pavilion at CHB. The sound of howling wind was replaced with the crackling fire in the brazier. It was dinnertime, but things were strikingly different. Chiron was usually very strict when it came to camp rules: don't be out after lights out, make sure you tell them if you'll be staying over for the winter session, always sit at your cabin table, no partners in the same cabin alone, etc.

Tonight, though, tonight was different. Everyone was scattered around at each other's tables, with friends sitting with friends. The Ares and Athena tables had been pushed together and they all were leaned in, talking in hushed tones. Their faces were serious, the kind of serious that you saw in the war room. Nick and two of his younger siblings were the only Hecate kids at the Hecate cabin, the rest were the kids from the other cabins.

I looked for my siblings, who'd stuck together at the Apollo tale, but had friends also sitting at their table. Dan was chatting with Butch from the Iris cabin. Even in such a tense atmosphere, he tried for a smile.

My siblings looked…okay. But to be fair, nearly everyone in the dining pavilion had the same expression. Serious, maybe sick, tired, and scared. I turned back to the Hecate cabin's table to watch Nick finish one of his tricks. He was the only one actually grinning, laughing, and smiling. It was forced, but he was doing his best, putting on a show for the kids.

What he was doing seemed to be working slightly. Some of the kids had small smiles. Others, who had puffy red eyes and tear-stained cheeks weren't crying anymore, though their eyes became watery now and again.

My heart ached seeing how desolate everyone looked, seeing how scared and upset the kids were.

All because Camp Jupiter had declared war against CHB. Forcing  _children_  to fight and kill other  _children_. How could they rationalize that? How could they think that what they were declaring war over was more important than banning together to stop the fucking world from ending?

I was really starting to dislike Camp Jupiter more and more.

As I watched Nick rip up a playing card with one of the kid's signatures on it, the earth beneath me gave way. The scream was pulled from my lungs as I fell and I let out a cry of pain when I felt glass shards dig into my side.

I pushed myself up, getting more glass shards to the hands, and frantically looked around. Sure enough I was back in Tartarus. This time Audrey II woke me up by licking my face with her rough tongue. Like last time, she went to turn on the lights before settling into my lap.

Worry permeated every pore of my body for my home, my siblings, what little friends I had at camp, and the kids. This was mixed with confusion and anger toward Apollo. I had a feeling that this was the mistake he'd made and why he was avoiding Zeus. Of course, it looked like more than just a "mistake." The look that boy had gotten in his eyes after he'd ripped open that second stuffed animal, and then when he'd been looking at me, was unnerving. It screamed danger.

It reminded me of Kronos's expression—burning, power-hungry eyes, filled with malice and hatred, and a smile that incited violence.

But it wasn't like there was much I could do about it here. Thinking about it too much made me angrier. It was clear the boy was from Camp Jupiter, because glancing from inside the temple, I'd seen familiar structures of Camp Jupiter from when Nico had accidentally shadow-traveled me there. Since, I couldn't do anything with my anger since I was in the middle of the ocean right now, half-way across the world, I'd have to focus on my energies here. Which included not getting angry at what was happening in New York, unfortunately. (Or trying not to, anyway.)

Trying to distract my mind, I shifted to get more comfortable with my back up against the wall and had just closed my eyes when I remembered that Frank, Hazel, and Nico had gone to return that book to the minor god.

Wondering if there was any news about their progress (and how long I'd been sleeping), I slipped off the bed, carefully transferring Audrey II from my lap and into my arms. I also took some pain meds. When I got to the top deck, with some incredibly impeccable timing, the three were just returning.

The first thing that caught my eye was Frank's height difference. He'd grown several inches taller, towering over Hazel and Nico, and now looked like an Olympic weightlifter. His shoulders had broadened and he held his chin higher. He looked more confident with himself. It was quiet impressive, and despite not interacting with him a whole lot since boarding the  _Argo II_ , I was happy to see him more confident than I ever had before.

Hazel and Nico looked a little worse for wear, but Hazel was carrying a bowl of what looked to be some kind of wheat or grain. I wasn't sure, I was never much into crops or the like. That was left to the Demeter kids.

The rest of the crew gathered on the top deck and we sat in a circle around the helm so Leo to could navigate the ship out of the wharf and onto the Adriatic, like Hecate had instructed us as Frank, Hazel, and Nico recapped what'd happened.

The minor god's name had been Triptolemus and he was the god of farming. Before even making to The Black House, they'd upset the cow monsters,  _katoblepones_  (singular,  _katobleps_ ), and Hazel had been poisoned by the noxious gas they could spray you with. After taking refuge in The Black House, they met Triptolemus. Apparently, giving him his book was only enough to grant one favor—heal Hazel or tell them about what we'd need to survive a trip into the House of Hades, which got Nico turned into a corn plant.

Frank had noticed that his chariot was missing a snake, and so offered to go find him a snake. But time was short considering Hazel was slowly dying from the poison. After some thought and guidance from Mars, he killed  _all_  the  _katoblepones_  in the city and was rewarded, by Mars, a snake.

He returned to Triptolemus, who almost went back on his deal, but Frank convinced him otherwise. After healing Hazel, turning Nico back into a human, and informing them what they'd need for the House of Hades, he took off on his newly fixed chariot.

It was quite a story, needless to say. I was also glad that I hadn't volunteered for the quest. Now we were heading across the Adriatic to Epirus. I was sure, though, we would encounter more harrowing obstacles before making it to Greece.

* * *

It was about four in the morning here, and it'd already been a long day. We were back on shifts, protecting the ship from monsters. It was a bit harder to deal with the sea monsters, considering the only sea expert the  _Argo II_  had was currently in Tartarus, but we managed.

I was on shift with Leo currently. We were close to a shift change, which I was grateful for. I was going to take three pain meds and at least  _try_  to get some sleep.

We'd just finished defending the ship from a large flock of harpies. All was quiet for the moment, and I'd taken advantage of it by sitting down, leaning against the helm so I could chat with Leo. Audrey II had went from on my shoulder to in my lap. I had my arms around her with her head resting in the crook of my elbow. She had sleepy eyes, but was trying not to fall asleep. It was so adorable.

I just closed my eyes when I heard my name called, and not from Leo. I sat up, my eyes snapping open, and looked to my left, where the voice had come from, to see Dan. I was confused at first because we'd already talked tonight. Besides, it was late over there, nearly lights out I was sure, if not after.

"Dan?" I asked, trying not to disturb Audrey II as I shifted so I could face the IM better.

He smiled at me sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm sorry if I woke you, but it's kind of important."

I frowned, standing. I kept Audrey II in my arms, but she didn't like that. With a grumble and a snort, she flew off, onto a warm spot on the helm that Leo had made for her after she'd walked over all the buttons and levers the first few days she was with us, nearly sending the  _Argo II_  into a freefall.

I turned my attention back to Dan, feeling bad, but I couldn't split my focus. "Is something wrong?"

"Kind of, but it's not life or death," Dan assured. He stepped back and slightly to the side, giving me a better view of what looked to be inside the Apollo cabin. As far as I could tell, all of the kids from camp were sitting on the floor, in a huddle. My siblings had the youngest ones in their laps, holding them and stroking their backs or hair comfortingly.

"What—?" I started.

"They're scared," Dan said in a low voice as my eyes strayed back to the kids. They all looked sleep deprived and like they'd been crying. "Nick has done all he can to keep their spirits up, but he can't do anything to help them sleep. I know you're busy, but do you think you could sing to them?"

"Of course," I said without a second thought. "Is there a song…?" I trailed off hope he'd understand, not quite knowing how to word the rest of the sentence. I looked at the rest of my siblings as well, extending the question to them.

"Well," Lyra began, looking skeptical. "This is a huge long shot, but have you seen  _Moana_?"

"Yes, actually, I have," I said, surprised myself that I had even managed that. This was thanks to Leo, of course. Being the son of Hephaestus, he'd crafted technology that demigods usually couldn't use, and made them…more usable, like phones and laptops, etc. With his Archimedes sphere, he was crafting a lot more, inventive stuff. Of course, he hadn't perfected it just yet. It still gave off a signal, but not as strong as if we used regular electronics. He was trying to get it to the point where it wouldn't be a problem to use it at all, like Daedalus' laptop.

I loved the movie, but now that I knew the context of "What can I say, except, you're welcome" I was annoyed with my father.

"What song were you thinking of?" I asked, when no one had spoken yet.

"It's a two-person song," Lyra explained. "But it's hopeful, and maybe it'll help them get some sleep tonight?"

It was "I am Moana" from the movie. Lyra sang the grandmother's part, I sang Moana's.

Look, I knew my voice could invoke a lot of things. But what happened while I was singing wasn't within the realm of what I thought even possible. And I'd seen a lot of impossible things in my short demigod lifetime.

As I started singing, the wind picked up, stirring the loose hairs in my braid and around my forehead. When I got the verse that started with, "I've delivered us to where we are." what appeared to be a blowing blueish-white mist began to swirl and float next to port side of the ship. At first, I was wondering what was going on, but then the mist began to form, I think, another trireme, about the same size as the  _Argo II_. Despite my shock, I kept singing, as people formed on the ship's top deck. I was completely mesmerized, walking up to the railing of the  _Argo II_  and looking across at the ghost-ship next to us.

As I sang, "I am everything I've learned and more," I noticed movement from the corners of my eyes. I looked over to see Jason walk up to the railing, his eyes wide, his jaw slack. I looked across from him to see a man staring back at him with a serious expression and it hit me: the ship across from me, the people on it…it was the  _Argo_ , the original  _Argo_.

At, "still it calls me." I faced front, to meet the eyes of who I assumed was Orpheus. He nodded at me and I nodded back, stunned, but still trying to keep singing. I backed away from the railing as the sails on the ship dropped and it started moving faster, past us. I turned back to face the IM, smiling at my siblings, the sleepy-eyed children, as I got to, "I will carry you here in my heart, you remind me."

When I got to the finish, I turned just in time to see the  _Argo_  in the distance wink out of existence as a big gust of wind blew past the  _Argo II_. The power that I'd felt while fighting Asterius washed over me, and when I'd finished the last note, it hung in the otherwise silent night air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I am so sorry this took me _so long_ (and that it's a bit shorter than previous chapters). A lot of things happened. I hit a writer's block, which may be in part due to the fact that this past week I moved into my grad school housing, across the country. Needless to say, the prospect of grad school and moving across the country _freaked me the fuck out_. So it was hard for me to write.
> 
> This chapter probably has typos and mistakes because I only did a quick edit, but I wanted to get this to you before I went away for however long again, since my first year of grad school officially starts tomorrow. Anyway, I apologize for those mistakes.
> 
> As you probably figured out, having the _Argo_ show up the way it did was inspired by the scene in _Moana_ , because I'm a huge nerd, love that movie, and love the songs in it. Also, obviously, the title is from the song.
> 
> Okay, so, the two changes I made. The one in Chapter 23 is the fact that, after TJ's death, Tori talks to Dan a lot more. Like every day, a lot more. Because she's finding it hard to cope, and seeing him, talking with him reminds her why she's still living. After everything that's happened. The one in Chapter 25 is the fact that Dan is learning Malay, because Antoinette is Malaysian, and he loves her so much, he wanted to learn her native language. Like I said small, but not insignificant in the slightest.
> 
> Finally, thank you so, _so_ much for those of you who keep coming back and reading, sticking with me (to the end of the line). It means the absolute world to me. It really does. I hope you continue to be patient as I work out my schedule. I will write when I can, and post when I can. _Thank you_.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	38. It's a Trap!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a bit of dialogue from the books, so bear with me.
> 
> And, after like five months, onto the story!

"Hey, can I…talk to you?"

I looked up from sharpening my sword to see Hazel standing in the doorway. I blinked, shocked at her appearance. I hadn't interacted with her much since coming onto the ship. She'd come down and visit me and Audrey II, but we didn't really talk much. I was confused and wondered why she wanted to talk all of a sudden. Then I remembered all the Hecate stuff, and Hazel having to learn how to work with the Mist. Maybe that was it? But why now, all of a sudden?

"Um…if it's about Mist, I can't—" I started, but Hazel shook her head.

"No, actually," she said, stepping into the sickbay, lowering her voice. "It's about Jason."

I frowned and lowered the hand that was holding my sharpening stone. "Jason?"

Hazel glanced over her shoulder, like she was afraid someone was listening. She leaned toward me more. "Can we talk about this in my room? I'd feel…more comfortable."

"Uh, sure." I set aside my stone and sheathed my sword. I quickly took two painkillers, for my chronic pain was acting up, and then carefully picked Audrey II up. She grumbled a little before getting comfortable in my arms and rumbling contentedly. I gestured with my head to the door, silently cueing Hazel to lead the way. I saw her let out a breath as she turned and went up the stairs. Once we were inside her room, she closed the door as I stood awkwardly in the middle of it, not sure where I could/should sit.

"Would you like to…sit?" Hazel asked, gesturing to her bed once she'd turned to face me.

I glanced at her bed. "You don't mind?"

Hazel shook her head. I tentatively sat down, leaving plenty of room for her. Nervous again, she stiffly sat down next to me. Silence ensued as I waited for her to continue.

"Can I?" Hazel pointed to Audrey II.

"Huh? Oh, sure." I shifted closer, angling so that Hazel could pet my dragon. "So…" I prompted after a moment. "Jason?"

I watched Hazel's hand falter in her strokes, but kept my eyes on Audrey II. Finally, she stopped, pulling her hand away. I looked up at her.

"I'm just…I feel like you're the only one I can talk to him about," she explained. "It's not that…that I have anything against him, necessarily—"

I snorted. "Well, I have a  _ton_  against him, so I think you may have come to the wrong person after all."

Hazel laughed. It was nervous, but a laugh nonetheless. I could see the change in her body as she relaxed more. I couldn't help but smile back.

"I noticed," she commented. "The night you showed up…" Her face fell. "I don't think I've ever seen him so…" She struggled for words.

"It's okay if you say scary," I told her. "He  _can_  be pretty scary. Not to mention he's older and taller than you."

Hazel looked sheepish and shrugged. "And, again, it's not that I have anything against him. I just…thought I could talk to you honestly about him. The others…well, Frank looks up to him. Piper's dating him. Leo's friends with him. And it even seems like Nico follows him without question."

"What are you concerned about, then?"

"I just can't get a read on him," Hazel sighed, frustrated. "I'm usually good at reading people." I wondered what she thought of me and was almost tempted to ask, but chased that thought away.

"And you thought I was better at reading people?" I asked, incredulously.

Hazel laughed again, becoming even more relaxed. "I thought maybe since you seem to have this…thing with him, maybe you had a clearer view of who he is…? Maybe you're more biased to disliking him." She frowned and looked away.

"To be honest, he's hard for me to read, too." I blew some stray hairs from my face. "I do know some things, though. He's stubborn. Annoyingly so. He understands some things, but when the same concept is applied to a different context, he seems to…I don't know, lose understanding. Which is part of the reason I can't seem to figure him out. Also why I find him so aggravating." I paused. "But I have a feeling that's not precisely what you wanted to talk about."

"He just seems…important," Hazel said. "More important to this quest than some of us. If that even makes sense. Hera dropped Jason at your camp first."

"She took Percy, too. It was an exchange of leaders."

"Well, yes, but Percy disappeared long before Jason did, and didn't come to our camp until after Jason had gone on his quest with Piper and Leo."

"Okay."

"I just feel he may be really important to the Prophecy of Seven and winning the war against Gaea."

"Why does that concern you? Are you afraid he won't be able to step up?"

Hazel looked down at her hands in her lap. "Just the opposite, actually," she murmured.

"You're afraid he's  _too_  powerful," I said, finally understanding.

Hazel looked back up at me. "And that doesn't concern you?"

I thought carefully about what I was going to say next, because I didn't want to invalidate her feelings. It was clear she was worried about this, and had trusted me enough to come talk to me about it. I didn't want to lose that trust. It felt…nice to know that someone else on this ship I might consider a friend.

"I've seen a lot of things, Hazel," I started. Then I made a face. "Wow, I'm sorry that sounded really old and pretentious." Hazel laughed, which I'd hoped she would do. "I suppose it's not an incorrect statement, though." I sighed. "I've known Percy for five years now. I've seen his power. And it is frightening. Well, it can be. But I also know Percy, and he has a good sense of what's right and wrong. I trust that he'll make the right decision when it comes down to it."

"And with Jason?" Hazel's voice was small.

"Well, despite not quite figuring him out, his black-and-white outlook on right and wrong keeps him from straying to the wrong side. I have absolutely no doubt about  _that_." I rolled my eyes. "But I'm not sure that answers your question, exactly. Or quells any of your fears. In which case, I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help."

Hazel took a big breath. "No, it feels nice to be able to just talk to someone about it. I'm so nervous about talking to the others, and it's kind of been eating at me for a while now."

"Well, if you ever want to talk again, you know where to find me. I can't say I can be much help, but you know." I shrugged.

Hazel smiled. "Thank you, I appreciate it."

I returned her smile. "Of course."

* * *

Even with Audrey II to help me wake up from bad Tartarus dreams (and now worry-induced dreams because of that weird blond kid and then seeing just how terrified the people at my home were of the Roman camp), waking up to blood-curdling screaming was  _not_  pleasant. I'd been the first one to get to Hazel's room and, not only did it take me forever to comprehend that there was no danger, but also every time someone new showed up because of the screaming, I had to squash the urge to hurt them. They'd come stumbling out of their room, half-awake, weapon drawn, and barrel toward where I was standing. Could you blame me?

When Hazel finally calmed down enough to explain the…polecat, or whatever it was called, everyone returned to sleep or their post.

I had to go pace on the top deck (after taking some pain meds), my hands shaking, itching to grab my sword, afraid that something was going to attack at any moment. Audrey II flew next to me, making noises as if to calm me down, or coo at me, or something. But it wasn't really helping this time. Tartarus was haunting me while I was awake now, this whole situation had gotten me so riled up.

Worse still, the prickles didn't seem to be responding to meds. I was just too stressed out. But I kept pacing, as my pain slowly worked its way up. They'd have to drag my unconscious body down to the sickbay at this rate. Again.

So you can imagine after such a rough night, being woken up by being thrown off the bed and into the other bed, I was  _not_  in a good mood. Not to mention the fact that my chronic pain hadn't calmed down from when I'd passed out. And that was the only reason I'd been able to even sleep at the level my chronic pain was at currently.

Audrey II let out a small, annoyed roar, immediately taking flight. I tried to stand just as the ship lurched in the opposite direction, throwing my shins right into the edge of the bedframe.

Cursing, I steadied myself. Was it just me or was Hecate's path getting more and more perilous?

I heard muffled shouting above me, but had to put all my focus on gathering my weapons and attached them to my person. I dry-swallowed three pain meds and made my way up the stairs as quickly, but as carefully as possible with Audrey II at my side. Taking a tumble down these steps would surely kill me. Or hurt me more than nectar or ambrosia could heal fully.

When I got topside, most of the crew was on the quarterdeck. Leo was at the helm, cursing. Some of them were at the stern. Nico was up in the rigging of the main mast, shouting directions. I heard a horrible snapping noise and the ship shuddered.

"Stop that!" Leo shouted, sounding desperate and damn nearly heartbroken.

In the distance I heard Hedge's voice yelling, "Take that! And that!"

I ran up to the stern (Audrey II perching on the railing) and I swear my eyes would've popped out of my head had my retina's not been holding them in place. Of all things I thought we'd encounter out at seas, a giant turtle was not on the list. Not even remotely. And when I say giant, I mean big enough, the theory of the world being on the back of a giant space turtle seemed almost plausible looking at this turtle. It had golden eyes, with black side-ways slits for the pupils. Its skin was like camouflage, with a red mouth. It looked slick, strangely oily.

As I was trying to close my mouth, my mind trying to comprehend this monster, Jason flew from the stern and landed on the creatures head. He tried stabbing it right between the eyes, but his sword glanced right off the creature's skin. Frank shot arrows at the turtle's eyes, but that didn't help one bit, either. Despite its size, it knew just when to blink to deflect his arrows, it was scary.

Piper was pressed against the rail, cornucopia spouting fruit as she shouted, "Fetch, ya stupid turtle!"

"Can you sing?" Frank asked, coming to stand next to me as he continued to rain arrows down at the turtle's eye.

I opened my mouth to answer, but like it had heard Frank, it dove, just enough to cover its head with water, but kept at the side of the ship. Jason stayed standing on its head, getting his shoes soaked. It was apparent this monster had also heard of me. Maybe having a reputation wasn't always a good thing.

"Well, not now," I griped.

"Why not!" Hedge called from the turtle's shell, still swatting at it uselessly. I was just surprised he'd even been able to hear that exchange.

"That's not how sound works, Hedge," I called back.

"Well, I'm not a freaking scientist am I, cupcake?"

I frowned. "Don't call me that!"

"How did it get so close?" Hazel asked, looking at Leo.

Leo threw his hands up. "Must be that shell. Guess it's invisible sonar. It's a freaking stealth turtle."

"Can the ship fly?" Piper questioned.

"With half our oars broken off?" Leo shook his head, hitting some buttons on the helm and spinning his Archimedes sphere. "I'll have to try something else."

"There!" Nico's voice came from above. "Can you get us to those straits?"

I followed Nico's hand to see a long strip of land, running parallel to the coastal cliffs. The stretch of water seemed a bit small, but it definitely wouldn't fit the giant turtle's shell. Though, it seemed awfully far away and I was worried we wouldn't be able to get there in time.

"Yeah. Yeah." Leo mumbled, punching more buttons, looking attentively down at his helm. After a few more pressed buttons, he spun his sphere again and looked toward Jason. "Jason, get away from that thing's head! I have an idea!"

Jason stopped mid-swing and flew up, off the turtle's head. "Coach, come on!"

"No, I got this!" Hedge responded, about to swing again, but Jason grabbed him around the waist and flew higher. Hedge continued to struggle, causing Jason to drop his sword into the ocean.

"Coach!" Jason complained.

Hedge relaxed and glared up at Jason over his shoulder. "What? I was softening him up!"

The turtle resurfaced then, head-butting the hull. I had to grab on the railing to prevent myself from toppling right over the edge (my chronic pain really didn't like that), as did the others standing near me. There was a horrible cracking sound, cracking wood. I assumed that wasn't a  _good_  thing. Audrey II had taken flight again, and was now circling around the mast. I guess she didn't quite know what to do, either.

"Just another minute," Leo muttered, his hands still pressing buttons, flipping switches, and doing whatever else he'd installed in the helm.

"We might not have another minute!" Frank responded, firing his last arrow.

Now that the turtle had resurfaced, Piper yelled, "Go away!" I felt the magic of charmspeak wash over me. It looked like it had worked. The turtle turned away and dipped its head underwater again. Then the ship lurched and more wood cracked. I was nearly thrown to the deck again. Gritting my teeth, I gripped the railing, trying to focus on anything else but the pin-pricks.

Jason and Hedge landed back on deck, Piper immediately approaching Jason.

"You all right?" she asked.

"Fine." Jason glared at Hedge. "Without a weapon, but fine."

"Fire in the shell!" Leo shouted, twirling his Wii controller so fast I thought it might slip from his hands.

I had just enough time to whistle for Audrey II to come over to me and wrap her safely in my arm, keeping one hand on the railing, before huge jets of fire blasted out behind the ship, engulfing the turtle's head in flame. The ship shot forward, but I held onto the railing, swinging and slamming into the side of the hull. Pain shot through my arm and I instinctively let go of the railing, hitting the deck with a thud. I laid there, groaning, trying to take deep breaths until the pain passed. Somehow, by some stroke of luck, I hadn't broken anything.

Audrey II was okay, too. I knew because she was licking my face and roaring. The warmth of her body actually helped my chronic pain somewhat. But only in the area she covered, and only a little.

From where I was laying, I could feel the ship still hurtling toward the strait. I also heard a horrible bellow, which I could only attribute to the monster turtle.

"A distraction," Leo mumbled. I craned my neck to look at him. "We'll never make it unless we get a distraction."

"A distraction," Hazel repeated, her eyes glazing over. I blinked and suddenly a tan horse, with a jet-black mane and tail was standing on the deck. I remembered Nico mentioned a horse, a fast horse, but hadn't realized just  _how_  fast.

Hazel grinned and climbed onto its back. "Tori—" She broke off when she saw me still lying on the deck, nodded once in understanding, before looking at Piper. "I could use your charmspeak."

"Once upon a time, I liked turtles," Piper sighed, accepting Hazel's hand up. "Not anymore!"

Hazel spurred the horse and it leaped right over the edge of the ship. I shifted carefully, my arm and side still throbbing painfully, so I wasn't stretching my neck uncomfortably. I closed my eyes, letting out a breath. I didn't think the worst was over, but I was already done with the day that felt like it'd been going on far longer than should be possible.

I felt when we ran out of firepower and slowed to sail power, but when I opened my eyes, I saw cliff walls reaching up on either side, so we'd made it to the strait. At least there was that, I supposed. With effort, I sat up, back against the railing, Audrey II still in my arms.

Hazel, Piper, and the horse appeared back on the ship. Hazel dismounted and Frank immediately engulfed her in a hug. "Nice work out there!" he congratulated.

Hazel blushed. "Thanks."

Piper slid from the horse, looking at Leo. "Leo, since when do we have  _jet_  propulsion?"

Leo grinned, but waved his hand, trying to be…modest I guess. "Aw, you know…just a little something I whipped up in my spare time. Wish I could give you more than a few seconds of burn, but at least it got us out of there."

"And roasted the turtle's head," Jason added, nodding appreciatively. "So what now?"

"Kill it!" Hedge exclaimed. "You even have to ask? We got enough distance. We got ballistae. Lock and load, demigods!"

I rolled my eyes. "I don't remember you being this violent," I muttered.

"You're talking about the satyr that brought Clarisse to camp, cupcake," Hedge responded.

"Fair enough." Then I glared at him. "Stop calling me that."

"Okay, back to the point," Jason said. "First of all, Coach, you made me lose my sword."

"Hey! I didn't ask for an evac! You demigods are so picky." He shook his head.

"Second," Jason continued. "I don't think that ballistae will do any good. That shell is Nemean Lion skin. Its head isn't any softer."

"So we chuck one right down its throat," Hedge said, not missing a beat, "like you guys did with that shrimp monster thing in the Atlantic. Light it from the inside."

Frank made a face. "Might work. But then you've got a five-million-kilo turtle carcass blocking the entrance to the straits. If we can't fly with the oars broken, how do we get the ship out?"

"You wait and fix the oars!" Hedge responded. "Or just sail in the other direction, you big galoot."

Frank blinked. "What's a galoot?"

"Guys!" Nico called from his place still in the rigging. I was shocked he'd managed to stay up there when the ship had been hurtling across the water. "About sailing the other direction? I don't think that's going to work." He pointed past the prow. I would've stood and looked, but I was still in pain and trying not to pass out. I figured, though, something was probably blocking our way out.

"We're not in a strait," Jason said, giving me more information. "We're in a dead end."

Chills shot down my spine, something similar to the premonitions I got when I'd still had that part of Apollo magic. Was  _this_  what intuition felt like?

Hazel only made the odd feeling in my stomach grow worse. "This is a trap." Her voice was quiet, but thick with fear.

"Nah, it's fine," Leo brushed her off. "Worse that happens, we make repairs. Might take overnight, but I can get the ship flying again." As if to punctuate this, the turtle roared again—telling me it was still there—for some reason. The bad feeling grew, and I found I liked the premonitions more than my intuition. Slowly, I stood, despite my pain, the feeling setting off my alarm bells. Sitting like I had been was too vulnerable a position, I didn't feel safe.

"Well…" Piper began, shrugging. "At least the turtle can't get us. We're safe here."

"Now you've done it," I muttered just as an arrow sank into the mainmast, mere inches from Piper's face.

The rest of the crew scattered for cover while Piper stood, frozen to the spot. I reacted instinctively, my ring spiraling out into a bow, and grabbing an arrow from my quiver. I searched for the shooter, ready to shoot back. Audrey II flew from my arms as I did, settling next to my feet.

Jason hissed something, but I wasn't paying attention, I was too busy looking for the shooter. I'd just found him, on the top of the cliffs, his bronze armor glinting in the sunlight, when I realized the person had shot another arrow, and it was hurtling straight at me. It was too late to shoot my own arrow to divert the attack. All I had time to do was gasp before it hit its mark, piercing me at the base of my throat, right between my collar bones.

I dropped my arrow, my bow spiraling back into a ring, my hands instinctively going up to the arrow. It took all my training from camp to resist the urge to pull the arrow from my throat. I coughed and retched instinctively, inhaling and swallowing blood as it pooled around my wound and dropped down my throat. Inhaling the blood only made me cough and retch more, which only made me inhale more. One of my hands moved up to cover my mouth.

In a daze, I stumbled to the stairs the led below decks. Someone, maybe a few someones, called my name, but I only had one goal in mind. Get to the ambrosia before I drowned in my own blood. I was trying not to panic, but my chronic pain and continuing cycle of inhaling blood wasn't helping at all. I nearly fell down the flights of stairs before staggering into the infirmary.

I rushed over to the cabinet and ripped open the doors, my free hand shooting out and grabbing a baggie of ambrosia, knocking over other medical supplies as I did so. Gritting my teeth, I reached up, grasped the shaft of the arrow, and ripped it out of my throat. I couldn't hold back the cry of pain as I did so. Blood spurted across the cabinet before I felt it spilling down my chest.

With shaking hands and hazy vision, I opened the baggie and grabbed a handful of ambrosia, forcing it into my mouth and swallowing hard. Immediately I felt its effects as the wound in my neck mended. Blood stopped pouring from my wound, and I stopped inhaling blood. I took the rest that was left in the bag (not much) because it was covered in blood and so would be unusable for anyone else, anyway. But also, just to make sure, for my throat was still a tad sore. I'd probably have to be careful talking and…and singing.

A chill went down my spine. Had the shooter known about me? That I'd be on the ship? Just as fast as the coldness had come, it was replaced by white-hot anger. The shooter had done it on purpose!

Completely forgetting about the state I was in, I turned to storm up those steps and give that shooter a piece of my mind, but stopped almost immediately when I saw Nico standing in the doorway. My anger dissolved. Not that it wasn't there, it still was, but I wasn't thinking so single-mindedly anymore.

Nico eyed me up and down. "You okay?"

I swallowed and reached up to gently prod at where the arrow had hit me. A little tender. "Fine," I replied finally, dropping my hand.

"You've got some…" Nico lifted his hand and pointed at his own chest, making a circular motion.

I looked down, seeing the blood all over my shirt. Then I looked around at the floor around the cabinet and the cabinet itself. It looked like a fucking crime scene. I groaned, wincing at the soreness in my throat, and then sighed. I had to clean this fucking mess up. Great.

"What'd I miss?" I asked, sealing the bloody baggie and throwing it in the trash can, and looking at the scene again, trying to figure out how I'd go about cleaning it up. Guess I should clean myself up first.

"Not sure, I…" Nico trailed off and I looked back at him. He looked sheepish. "I followed you down almost immediately after you disappeared."

I blinked, feeling shocked and…honored, honestly. To know that he cared about me that much was nice. "Oh, well, thank you." I mumbled awkwardly. "But, uh, you should head back up. They…they might need you for something or other."

"Uh…yeah, okay," Nico stuttered, looking as embarrassed as I felt.

"I…I think I'll stick down here, clean this up," I explained. "Would rather not be shot at again."

"Y-yeah, good thinking, um…" Nico started to back out of the doorway. "Guess I'll just…" He gestured to the stairs. "Head back up, then."

"Uh, sure, yeah. Thanks again for checking on me." I gave an awkward wave, which he returned just as robotically before spinning around and climbing up the steps. I watched the steps for a few moments, scolding myself for being such an awkward shit before looking back at the bloody mess.

Since Nico didn't come back down in any sort of panic, I figured they'd gotten stuff figured out topside, and so focused my energies on cleaning up. Audrey II had come down and was dozing on my bed. I had to take off my shirt and bra to clean my chest with a wet cloth, then find a clean bra and tee.

After, I grabbed a new cloth from the bathroom, wetted it, and cleaned up the cabinet and anything inside the cabinet that had blood on it. Then I found the mop and mop bucket to get the blood on the floor. As I was mopping it up around the cabinet, I realized there was a trail leading to the stairs.

I stared at the trail blankly, dreading having to mop all that up, but also not wanting it to just be  _left_  there, either. By now, the ambrosia was wearing off and my chronic pain was slowly returning. Right now it was at a level I could handle, but I had a feeling after the stresses of today, it wouldn't stop there.

Rinsing the mop, the water tinged a light shade of red already, I squeezed the water out and started at the trail that led from the sick bay and to the stairs, all the way up to the top deck. Audrey II had flew over and curled around my neck—a comforting warmth that helped with some of my chronic pain—when I'd gotten to the doorway.

I got to the top stair just as I heard Frank ask, "What's going on up there?" I looked around the deck and realized that Jason and Hazel were missing. Momentarily forgetting my chore, and through the haze of my chronic pain, I tried to get the feel of the situation.

The rest of the crew were standing in the same spots I'd seen them last, though Nico was now on the deck and not in the rigging. They were all looking at the cliff. I followed their gazes up to the top of the cliff. The shooter was now standing on something, facing Jason and Hazel…talking? I had to wonder what exactly I missed, because none of the puzzle pieces were clicking together.

"I think it's okay," Leo ventured, not sounding at all sure of himself.

Hedge snorted but didn't make a verbal comment. He still looked disappointed we weren't using weapons to blow the cliff to smithereens or something.

I waited to see what was going to happen, completely forgetting the mop in my hand. There was still blood on the deck from where I'd first been shot leading up to the stairs—I'd glanced at it earlier as I got closer and closer to the deck—but I was completely entranced by what was going on up on the cliff, since I had no idea  _why_  they were up there.

A few moments passed. I blinked and Jason was suddenly airborne, flying right over the side of the cliff. I watched, frozen in horror, as he fell and the giant turtle breached right in front of the ship, easily snapping its jaws around him, swallowing him whole. Piper shrieked, snapping the rest of the crew out of their daze. Leo dashed to the helm, Frank went to comfort Piper. Hedge started going toward one of the ballistae before Leo shouted at him that they wouldn't be able to reach that high up on the cliffs. Alarms went off aboard the ship, there was more yelling from everyone. I stood where I was, feeling like something was off.

There was a familiar pull of magic in the air, of Mist magic, to be more specific. I looked back up at the cliff and my vision shimmered for a second. I sucked in a sharp breath when I saw Jason, perfectly fine, hovering a few yards down the side of the cliff. Then the Mist snapped back into place and he vanished, almost like a magic trick, or like he'd turned invisible. I looked even higher, to where the shooter and Hazel were. Again, what I saw changed briefly. Instead of Hazel's back facing the ocean, it was the shooter's.

A few more dazed moments passed before it was the shooter who was suddenly airborne, falling down the cliff-side. The Mist, the illusion popped and Jason reappeared at the top of the cliff, hovering. Gun shots rang through the air as the shooter continued his descent, and a rock dropped to the pit of my stomach.

"Down!" I shouted, dropping my mop and lunging toward the closest person to me, who happened to be Nico. We both hit the deck kind of hard, but I was afraid of ricochet of the bullets off the cliffs. Though they wouldn't pierce as deep, they could be just as deadly. I looked around to see everyone else had, thankfully, followed my lead. I looked to the bow of the ship in time to see the giant turtle breech and swallow the shooter in one giant snap of its turtle jaws.

I sat back. "Everyone okay?" I asked, looking around. They were all getting up, nodding. I looked at Nico. "Sorry for throwing you down like that. Are you okay?"

Nico's eyes were wide and worried, and focused on my side.

"Are you all right, Nico?" I asked, leaning toward him, resisting the urge to reach out and put a hand on his shoulder. I'm sure he didn't appreciate the sudden contact just now, I didn't want to make it worse.

"I'm fine," he said, finally meeting my eyes. He pointed at my left side. "But you got shot."

" _What?_ " I looked down and sure enough, I was bleeding. Now that I'd noticed it, I felt a burning sensation where the bullet had pierced my skin. Comparatively, it actually wasn't the bad. I'd had so much worse. Not to mention that constantly being in pain, I'd learned to manage focusing my attention away, as best I could, from the pain. Also, I'd been shot earlier and having just ripped the arrow out of my own body, this pain was nothing.

And finally,  _I'd just been shot earlier._  I couldn't fucking believe I'd somehow managed to get shot,  _again_!

I pulled my shirt away from the wound. It was kind of bleeding, but the bullet hadn't bounced around. Because it was ricochet, it'd only gone a few inches into my side. It also hadn't hit anything major on its way in.

"I'll have to remove that," I muttered, annoyed. I'd probably have to take more ambrosia, which I wasn't looking forward to. Though, because this wasn't too deep of a wound, if I just stitched it up, I could avoid having to take anything other than my usual pain meds. After that whole incident with the nectar, I had avoided the food of the gods as much as I possibly could.

Nico made an incredulous noise. "That's all you have to say?"

"Well, uh…I'm sorry I couldn't be injured more." I started to stand, intending to go down to the sickbay and get the supplies I needed, but stumbled. Nico was at my side, draping one of my arms over his shoulders. I was surprised he could hold me up, honestly, because he still looked sickly and thin. "And, if you hadn't noticed, I was  _already_  shot today." I griped.

"You're so stubborn," he muttered as we started hobbling over to the stairs.

"You're one to talk," I shot back, glaring at him.

"Hey, is everything—" Frank begin, coming up to us, only to see my bloody shirt. His eyes popped. "Oh my gods, we need to get you to the sickbay immediately!"

"It's really not—" I tried, but he was already putting my other arm around his shoulders. When he realized that wasn't going to work because of our height difference, he dropped my arm and looked over at Nico.

"Do you mind if I just pick her up?" he asked.

Nico looked stunned, but shook his head and stepped away from me, ghosting (no pun intended) next to me, I guess in case I took a spill.

"Do you mind, Tori?" Frank asked. I looked at him, about to object, but the genuinely worried look on his face and his big, begging brown puppy-dog eyes were irresistible. I sighed and glanced at Nico to see him trying to hide his smile and shaking from silent laughter. Despite my annoyance with this, it was also really nice to see him genuinely happy for once, after Tartarus, especially.

I looked back at Frank and crossed my arms huffily. "Fine."

"Are you sure?" Frank swallowed hard, not moving an inch.

I nodded.

Haltingly, Frank came over and took me into his arms bridal style. I kept my arms crossed and glared at nothing in particular. Behind Frank I could hear Nico snickering as he followed us down to the sickbay. Audrey II flew after us, coming to land on my shoulder and licked my cheek.

I reached up to pat her head.

"I'll be all right," I assured.

Frank set me down on one of the cots and ran back up the stairs. Nico sat down on the edge of the cot opposite, humor still twinkling in his eyes.

"It's really not that bad," I told him, shifting carefully so I could sit up, and lean against the wall. Audrey II was sitting next to me, resting her head across my thigh. Nico rolled his eyes and I gestured to myself. "Do you sense that I'm dying right now?"

"Well…no, but—"

"Then there's no reason—"

" _But_ ," Nico said more forcefully, "you were still injured. Uh…again. That should count toward something. Friends aren't allowed to be worried about their friends getting injured? Even if it's not life-threatening?"

"…fair point," I conceded just as footsteps sounded on the stairs. Frank returned with Hazel at his side.

"I know it's going to be a little gross," Frank explained, looking at Hazel. "But I was thinking you could remove the bullet without causing too much more damage. And of course, you don't have to do it if you don't want to. I just thought with your ability to manipulate metals…well, you know."

"We should have some gloves in that cabinet over there if you'd like," I pointed across the room.

Hazel nodded, looking confident enough, but her hands were balled into fists, and I was reminded she was around fourteen years old.

"You really don't have to do this if you don't want to," I reiterated as she started toward the cabin. "I can take it out surgically."

" _No_ ," Frank and Nico said simultaneously. I jumped and looked back and forth between them, shocked at their vehement response.

"I've been trained in combat medicine," Frank continued. "You shouldn't have to do it on yourself."

"He's right," Nico added.

I made a placating gesture. "Okay, I was just saying, if needs must, I  _can_  take it out myself."

Hazel was looking between the three of us, her hands unfurling. Her gaze finally rested on Frank. "You'd be okay with that?"

"Of course," Frank assured, taking one of her hands and giving it a gentle squeeze. Hazel looked relieved and smiled up at him.

"Thanks," she breathed. Then she looked and Nico and I. "All of you. I'll be…up top. See if anyone needs any help with anything." She looked back at Frank for a moment longer before heading out of the sick bay.

* * *

"So, you know combat medicine?" I asked, trying to make conversation as Nico and Frank sterilized the tools they'd need to remove the bullet from my side. Audrey II had moved to my right side, but rested her head on my thigh again. I'd taken a few pain meds, more for my chronic pain than the bullet wound, honestly.

"Yeah, everyone in the legion is trained in it," Frank answered, setting the scalpel back down on the metal tray. Nico finished with the forceps and set them on the tray next to the scalpel. "Is it different at Camp Half-Blood?" he asked, coming over to sit on the edge of the bed, setting the tray next to him. Nico took his place back on the bed opposite to mine.

"Yeah, only the Apollo cabin is trained in that, since, you know, Apollo's the god of medicine and all," I answered, shifting slightly and pulled up my shirt so Frank had better access to the wound.

"Here." Nico held out a pencil for me. I nodded thanks and put it between my teeth before looking at Frank and nodding again to tell him I was ready. Too bad we didn't have any anesthetic on board. I guess it was assumed it wasn't necessarily needed since we could just take a bite of ambrosia or a sip of nectar and be pretty well off.

A string of profanities left my mouth, around the pencil as Frank made a small incision starting from the wound so he could pull the bullet out easier, and not cause more damage. The profanities then turned into indiscriminate groans of pain when he started to remove the bullet, something my throat didn't like  _at all_.

Suturing it up wasn't too bad, though, thankfully. Frank had definitely asked about that when he and Nico began preparing the stuff, but dropped it when I'd given him a short, simple answer in a clipped tone. I didn't trust myself to take more food of the gods today, even if the effects of my last dose had worn off in regards to my chronic pain.

My day didn't really get any better from there. I was making my way to the mess hall to grab a snack, and to feed Audrey II, when Hedge went, "Psst!" as I passed his room. I jumped a mile and tried not to pull my sword (not like I'd be able to use it in this narrow hallway, anyway). I turned toward the door to see Hedge looking out of a crack in the door, looking…embarrassed? I was unsure, but that was the best way I could describe the look he had (from what I could tell, since I couldn't see much of his facial expression).

"Um…" I looked up and down the hall to make sure he wasn't talking to someone else who happened to be passing by, even though I definitely knew there wasn't anyone else in the hallway currently. "Did…did you need something?"

"Yeah, I heard you IM camp regularly," Hedge said, a little gruffly, avoiding eye contact.

"Yeah, I do." I shifted, trying to get a better look, but Hedge kept his door open only a sliver. "Why—"

"Well, it looks like the rainbow goddess is having some connection issues." Hedge coughed and shifted. "Just thought I'd let you know."

My heart plummeted and I felt worry fill every pour in my body almost immediately, but I tried to pull out of it and respond. "Oh, okay, thanks. I-I…appreciate it."

"Sure thing, cupcake." Before I could respond to his favorite nickname, he closed the door in my face.

Blinking, still in a daze, I slowly turned away from the door and started down the hall. How was I supposed to contact them now? What if something went wrong and I had no idea, no way to contact them? I barely made it two steps before the door opened again. I quickly spun around to Hedge again, with the door open wider now.

"Come by when you've got some time and I'll show you a way to keep in contact," he told me.

"Okay, thanks—" I just barely finished before he slammed the door closed again. That had to have been the strangest conversation I'd ever had in my life, which is saying something. Not that I'd interacted with Hedge a lot before this trip, or during.

* * *

I was up sitting in the rigging with Nico again. It'd been a couple of days since Sciron, the bandit with an impeccable shot (as Hazel would later relay to me because I'd been on bed rest, instructions from Frank). We were back in the open ocean, and I was enjoying the sunlight. It was so warm, it was actually helping my chronic pain. Audrey II was currently resting on the helm. My side was still sore, and I had to refrain from extraneous activity so it could heal, and so I wouldn't tear my stitches.

"Hey, uh," Nico started, grabbing my attention. I looked over at him, but he was looking down, at something on the deck. "I just…just wanted to apologize for…for what I did, keeping that secret from you."

"What, the one about my punishment?" I sat up a little straighter. "You already apologized, you don't need to again."

"No, I do," Nico snapped, startling me. His voice softened, "This isn't about—well, it's related, but it's…it's important I apologize to you for that, too."

"For what? Nico, you're kind of scaring me." I was starting to get nervous, and I really  _hated_  that I didn't have Apollo's premonition magic anymore. I hadn't even realized I relied on it so much. Had there been something else he hadn't told me about? I filtered through all my dreams, every conversation we'd had in Tartarus (though, there wasn't a lot because we were, well,  _in Tartarus_ ).

"No, it…it's still over the same thing, but—look." Nico took a deep breath. "Let me explain, please. And apologize." He stopped, keeping his eyes on the deck again, and swallowed hard. He was turning the skull ring on his finger, a habit I noticed he did when he was nervous.

I waited as patiently as we could, but when Nico continued to stare and twist his ring for what felt like an eternity, I let out an anxious sigh. "Nico—"

"It's…it's about—" Nico let out a frustrated sigh. "It's about…Percy."

"Percy?" I was honestly shocked. I thought he'd already apologized for however Percy was involved, but I guess there was more to it? I looked over at Nico, who was looking at me nervously. I blew out a big breath. "Okay. Go on."

"I…I was selfish," Nico finally said, looking down again, speaking in a low voice. I could barely hear him over the sound of the wind, we were up so high. "Completely and utterly selfish. The reason I didn't tell you about your punishment and…and how it involved P-Percy was because I…I was afraid. I was afraid that you'd, well, that'd you get angry—that you'd get angry and take it out o-on him." His words came faster, like he was afraid I was going to interrupt. "Y-you can be kind of v—er…" Nico broke off, looking over at me.

"Violent? Volatile? Vicious?" I substituted.

Nico rolled his eyes and chuckled, but his smile faded fast. "I didn't want you to… hurt him if-if I told you and you got angry."

"But you don't need to apologize for that," I said. "You can't control something like that, and it would have been my fault for having made the decision to take it out on him."

"I'd feel responsible, regardless, because I'm the one who told you how he was involved. And I'm not apologizing for that, I'm apologizing for protecting him by keeping that secret. For…for being selfish."

"I guess—you don't need to apologize, I understand where you're coming from. I guess what I  _don't_  quite understand is  _why_ —I mean, you obviously feel strongly about apologizing—and don't get me wrong, you can feel strongly about your friends—" I broke off, my brain finally putting two and two together. "Oh," I gasped, looking over at Nico. "Oh." I said again, watching his body language, since he wasn't looking at me. He didn't look embarrassed or relieved. He looked…ready for a fight. His shoulders were hunched and tense, his hands balled into fists. His jaw was set. I couldn't read his facial expression because he was still turned away.

I took a small breath, reaching my hand out, palm up. "Nico," I said softly. Slowly, Nico turned his head to look at me, keeping his eyes downcast until he'd been facing me for a few seconds. When he met my eyes, I extended my hand a little more, glancing down at it. Nico did to, before hesitantly taking it and looking back up at me.

"Thank you." I squeezed his hand. "For apologizing. And…and for trusting me. You're safe here." Nico finally relaxed, a small smile spreading across his face. I felt the answering smile pull at my lips, and I squeezed his hand again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of ya'll have watched _Futurama_ , you know that one ep, where they go to Mars Uni and Bender becomes a bad influence to Robot House and the Dean constantly gets mad at them and curses, " _Robot House!_ "? Well, picture me yelling with that inflection, only saying " _Grad School!_ " Because that was me these past few months and the reason for my total radio silence.
> 
> Yeah.
> 
> Also, I don't feel… _great_ about this one. A lot of it felt like rehash, just with Tori kind of there. I just…couldn't find an easy, smooth way to incorporate her into those scene. Which I'm kicking myself over, but I've literally been thinking about this for _months_ , so just know I did try to come up with something.
> 
> I can promise you some interesting times in the next chapter (which you will get pretty soon after this one *knocks on wood* yay!) with Cupid, though ;)
> 
> I have nothing to else to say about my absence, other than I hope that you'll continue to be patient with me, and stick with me to the end (of the line). Also, _thank you_ , to those who have waited. I really, really do appreciate it.
> 
> And yes, the title is a reference to Star Wars. (So original, I know.)
> 
> Comments are much appreciated! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	39. If it Doesn't, You ain't Doin' it Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you guys are happy you didn't have to wait so long for this chapter, huh? Well, I can say, I'm just as happy.
> 
> Happy New Year, and onto the story!

I leaned back in the  _extremely_  comfortable chairs in the mess hall, stretching my legs and staring at my half-full plate. It was lunch time, but also we were having an important meeting. Earlier, Jason had an accident and almost became a spot on the Adriatic, but Piper saved him just in time. During his unconscious state, he'd had a vision of what was going on in New York. That was one of the reasons I was even here (now that I couldn't contact my siblings through IM anymore), the other was for the food.

Rachel and Grover had apparently had a meeting on the top of some building in New York, with the Romans. They'd told Reyna that Annabeth had managed to send a note from Tartarus—it was so good to hear that her and, presumably Percy, were still alive—asking Reyna to return the Athena Parthenos (of legend) to camp, which had the potential to heal the rift between the Greeks and Romans. Which would also help the gods stop fighting within themselves.

Jason also mentioned another person, Octavian, and a chill shot down my spine. I bolted up so quickly Audrey II made a noise of protest. So was this intuition? It was like some voice in the back of my mind telling me to ask about Octavian, pulling at that name, like a thread.

"Something wrong?" Jason asked, a little clipped.

Suddenly all eyes were on me, and it was making me uncomfortable. But, at the same time, that name kept tugging from the back of my mind, urging me to ask, even if I didn't really want to at the moment.

I leaned forward, picking up my fork and playing with my food, and swallowed hard. "Octavian…is he blond? Kind of scrawny? Carry stuffed animals around on a belt?" I forced myself to meet his eyes as I finished.

"How did you know that?" Jason's eyes were sharp, but his voice stayed level. I thought back to what I'd seen in my dream, what  _Octavian_  had said, and sighed, sitting back in my chair.

"Fucking Apollo," I muttered under my breath before turning back to the waiting table. "I…I had a dream about him a little while ago. It's…" I waved my hand noncommittally. "It's probably nothing serious."

"Nothing seri—oh, so you just  _guessed_  that Octavian was the one in your dream? Even though you've never met him, or even heard of him before now?" Jason asked, his voice growing colder by the second. I glared at him, dropping my fork.

"I don't know what to tell you," I snapped. "There wasn't much to go off of in my dream, and I didn't even know his  _name_  until a few seconds ago."

"And you just  _happened_  to guess that the guy I was talking about was the same guy you saw in your dreams?"

"I just thought I'd ask, excuse me for wanting to figure out more about my dream."

"I find it hard to believe it's not important in some way. He's Roman, why would you, of all people, be dreaming about a Roman demigod."

"Well, is he a son of Apollo?"

Jason blinked, as if not expecting that question. "No, a legacy."

"Well, then, there you go. You know what it's probably trying to tell me? That Apollo fucked up somehow, like  _usual_. Happy?"

"No—" Jason tried but Piper rested her hand on his arm. His eyes shot over to her, his glare melting under her gaze. It almost made me angry, how hostile he was with me, but one look from Piper made him calm down, do a complete 180. That, however, was overshadowed by the horribly hollow feeling of grief—reminded me of who I lost, and who I missed every single gods-damned day of my life. I was grateful, however, that Piper had brought him back to the more important point of the conversation.

"Now isn't really the time," Piper said in a low, calming voice. "We should focus on the task at hand."

"Yeah," Leo exclaimed, in a more chipper tone, though I could tell it was forced. "Getting a message to Reyna. By making a quick detour. Weird vacation spot. But, hey, you're the boss!"

"I can't believe…a note from Annabeth." Piper smiled and shook her head in amazement. I could see the relief on her face and for some reason it made me remember how Annabeth and I had grown apart after Piper had shown up at camp. Then I shook myself because Annabeth needed friends her age and I…well, I needed a fucking break from being a demigod. "I don't see how that's possible, but if it is—"

"She's alive," Leo finished. "Thank the gods, and pass the hot sauce." He gestured toward the bottle sitting at the middle of the table.

Frank gave him a weird look. "What does that mean?"

He gestured again at the bottle while wiping his mouth with his other hand. "It means pass the hot sauce, Zhang, I'm still hungry." I was honestly amazed and impressed that he still had an appetite. I couldn't make it through much other than a handful of grapes, or a piece toast,  _maybe_  some jam these days. I'd forced myself to eat half my lunch today, but was feeling queasy from it.

Frowning, Frank slid over the bottle, but spoke to the rest of the crew. "I can't believe Reyna would try to find us. It's taboo, coming to the ancient lands. She'll be stripped of her praetorship."

"If she lives," Hazel added. "It was hard enough for us to make it this far with seven demigods and a warship."

"And me," Coach chimed, or rather, belched. "Don't forget, cupcake, you got the  _satyr_  advantage."

"And Reyna only has herself and a pegasus," Frank stated. "The odds are really stacked against her getting here."

"Which means…we may not be able to get the message to her about where we're going to be," Hazel continued.

"Which also means that the rift between the Greeks and Romans may not be healed," Piper added.

"So, in a word: not good," Leo finished.

"That's two words," Frank corrected.

"I know that, I was making a joke."

"Everything you say is a joke—"

" _Well_ ," Piper interrupted quickly, in a forceful tone. I frowned at Frank and Leo, not realizing just how much they didn't get along. Which seemed weird, since they were part of the Seven, so it seemed like they should be on better terms with each other. It was important that you trusted your partner, or team, in this case, unconditionally. Their sharp words didn't communicate unconditional trust in each other. It was also a bit upsetting because I liked them both and didn't like seeing them not getting along. Piper continued, breaking me from my musings. "Jason knows Reyna better than any of us…" she trailed off as the crew turned to look at Jason, but Jason hadn't seem to hear.

"Jason?" Leo waved his hand in front of Captain America's face. " _Argo II_  to Jason. Come in."

Jason blinked and looked around at his friends, passing over me (which I wasn't really surprised about). "Yeah, sorry." His eyes went a little distant again as he reached up to touch the groove in his hair that Hazel told me was from Sciron shooting at him. "Crossing the Atlantic is a hard journey, no doubt. But I'd never bet against Reyna. If anyone can make it, she will."

"Well," Piper began, her voice dry as she looked at Jason. "I'd  _love_  to see Reyna again, but how is she supposed to find us."

Frank's hand went up a little hesitantly. "Can't you just…send her an Iris Message?"

"They're not working very well," Hedge said before chomping down on a tofu-taco, paper plate and all. "Horrible reception. Every night, I swear, I could  _kick_  that rainbow goddess…" He broke off, his face slowly turning red, up to the tips of his ears. I saw Leo's grin, but seeing how secretive he was being when he'd told me about the faulty connection, and how red he was now, I had a feeling he didn't want to bring any more attention to himself. (I hadn't found the time to talk to him about his other form of communication.)

"He's right, I've been having issues too," I quickly chimed in. "I…I haven't been able to contact my siblings for a few days now." I glanced at Hedge, who had relaxed back in his chair and gave me a relieved look.

"Some magic is probably interfering…maybe Gaea," Hazel added. "Contacting the Romans is even harder. I think they're shielding themselves."

"I don't suppose Reyna has a cell phone…?" Frank asked, drumming his fingers on the table, his chin resting in his other hand. "Nah. Never mind. She'd probably have bad reception on a pegasus flying over the Atlantic."

"She'll find us," Jason assured. "She mentioned something in the dream—she's expecting me to go to a certain place on our way to the House of Hades. I—I'd forgotten about it, actually, but she's right. It's a place I need to visit."

Piper leaned toward him, then, dropping the spoon for her soup. "And where is this place?"

Jason blinked like he was dazed. "A…uh, a town called Split."

"Split," she repeated.

"Uh, yeah. In fact, we should…we should be getting close." Jason struggled to pull his gaze from Piper and looked at Leo. "Leo?"

Leo leaned over and hit the intercom button. "How's it going up there, buddy?"

Festus creaked and steamed in response.

"He says maybe ten minutes to the harbor," Leo relayed. "Though I still don't get why you want to go to Croatia, especially a town called  _Split_. I mean, you name your city  _Split_ , you gotta figure it's a warning to, you know,  _split_. Kind of like naming your city  _Get Out!_ "

Hazel held up her hand. "Wait, why are we going to Croatia?"

"Well, technically," Leo started, pushing away his food. "We've been in Croatia territory for the past day or so. All that coastline we've been sailing past is  _it_ , but I guess back in the Roman times it was called…what'd you say, Jason? Bodacious?"

"Dalmatia," Nico said, startling everyone, myself included. And I had even known he was here, had been the whole time, standing in the corner of the room, blending in with the shadows. What made it worse, though, was the fact that Nico had decided to appear next to me. I took all I had not to grab his arm and flip him onto the table.

I glared up at him, but he had his eyes focused on Jason.

"Croatia used to be Dalmatia," Nico continued. "A major Roman province. You want to visit Diocletian's Palace, don't you?"

Hedge belched again and I stood, stretching. Audrey II let out a squawk of frustration, flapping her wings as she was dislodged from my lap before resting on my shoulder.

"I need some air," I announced before turning to Nico. "You can have my seat. If you want." I slipped past him and started to the door.

"But what…what about the meeting?" Frank asked.

"I don't need to hear the rest." I started listing out things and slowly turning back to face the table again. "You have to go visit some town, leave a message where Reyna will find it. Three of you most likely will go, since it's the best for quests. And considering that the message is to  _Reyna_ ,  _Jason_  will be one of the people going. And as we all know, Jason doesn't like me. So I won't be joining you."

When no one said anything else, I headed down the hall. My chronic pain was beginning to act up anyway, and I was starting to feel really restless. In fact, since my pain wasn't too bad yet, I decided to head up to the top deck to move around a little and breathe in that sea air first. Albeit, humid, warm sea air, but not as bad as if we were on land.

By the time I headed down to grab some pain meds, it looked like Nico and Jason were leaving the ship. I wasn't sure why only those two, instead of the usual three, but didn't question it. I just kept heading down. I  _was_  hoping to take a nap, but on my way down, Leo was heading up.

"Hey, so, you helping out with ship repairs?" he asked.

"You know I'm not good with machines or my hands," I replied.

"Well, I could use your psychic abilities for detecting bombs," he shot back jokingly. I forced a laugh, unwilling to tell him I'd lost that ability a while ago and was now relying on intuition, which felt totally strange and different (and I  _hated_  it).

"Okay, fine," I held up my arms in mock surrender. "I'll be up in a minute."

Leo grinned before racing past me. I rolled my eyes and chuckled at his antics and headed to the sick bay. I took three pain meds and headed back up. Turns out, I'd be sitting on a swing, connected to a pulley system, helping Hedge put the oars that were only knocked out of alignment back into alignment. Leo had to make all new oars for the ones the turtle had bitten off and attach those at some point.

It wasn't great fun, and honestly, I was afraid of losing my balance and falling into the ocean, but it wasn't the worst job. I could hit things with force. It was when it became too complex or intricate did I have trouble. I couldn't have been down there for long, because I'd only managed to get just a handful of oars back into alignment, was working on another, when Leo called over the railing for me.

I looked up as my swing started moving upward, nearly taking a spill and back-flipping into the ocean from the sudden shift.

"What is it?" I called up as the swing moved, gripping the ropes.

"You're not gonna believe me," Leo called back. "You're just gonna have to…see for yourself." He pulled away then, so I was unable to ask him more questions without straining my vocal chords to shout louder than I had been. Anxiety started to pool in the pit of my stomach. What was that even supposed to mean? What wouldn't I believe him about?

* * *

I'm one of those people who hate surprises. It sounds cliché—there's always that one character who hates surprises. But I'd learned, being a demigod, that even if I thought I'd seen it all, I hadn't. And the next unexpected thing that I was going to see was probably worse or weirder than the last. So, I  _really_  hated surprises.

Of all the things I was expecting when I finally got to the railing, it  _was not_  an angel. At least, that's what he looked like, though maybe not as conventional as the angels described in popular media. This guy looked in his late teens, with skin a shade browner than mine, and curly black hair. He wore a red tank top, Bermuda shorts, and sandals. His wings were russet colored that shined auburn when caught by the sunlight at just the right angle. Strapped to his side was a jagged bronze sword.

I looked at Leo as I hopped over the railing. "For me?" I asked.

Leo nodded, openly staring at the…person? Angel? Most likely, since we didn't have angels, a god, before us.

"If I don't come back, assume I died, and continue on without me," I muttered before starting toward the guy, not giving Leo a chance to respond. "Um, you…wanted to see me?" I asked as I got closer. And, as I got closer, the guy's demeanor changed drastically. He tensed up and his face tightened.

"Child of Apollo," he stated, then muttered under his breath, "even after all this time, he still decides to surprise me."

"Excuse me?"

"I was hoping you'd be with the others," he said louder.

"Who are you? Others?"

"It's just easier if I show you," he said before disappearing into thin air.

"Wait, no—!" I tried, but it was too late. I felt my physical form dissolve completely. My mind went into a panic. If I had a heart, it'd be beating out of my chest, my breathing wild and erratic. It was all I could do to hold myself together, even though there was no me  _to_  hold together. And that was just the problem. I barely had a hold on anything in my life after Luke's death. Now there was nothing tying me down to the earth. A single misstep, as easy as letting go of my bow string, or letting my sword hilt slip from my hands, and I'd be gone. My mind literally scattered to the winds.

Thankfully, before that could happen and I could lose complete control, my body reformed. I landed on my feet with a gasp, but my legs buckled and I took a spill. For a moment, I just laid there, reveling in having a physical form again. My hands were shaking, my heart pounding in my chest.

When I managed to pull myself up into a sitting position, I sat back and examined my surroundings. I was glad to know I had my sword and dagger with me. Unfortunately, no quiver of arrows because of the timing. I hadn't planned on going out. I was a bit bitter about that.

I was in what looked and felt like a cellar. Though, a very  _large_  cellar, with a vaulted ceiling and thick support columns to hold it up. The whole place was made of…limestone, perhaps? Though, there was no distinction of when one block ended and the other began, making this place look almost like it'd been naturally formed. The floor was cool stone, but it brought back terrible memories of the Labyrinth.

This didn't help my anxiety. Or my chronic pain, which usually got worse the more stressed out I got. (Wish the guy had given me time to run below decks and take a few more pain meds.)

I shot up to my feet, unsheathing my sword, on alert for any danger. To be honest, my eyes were on the ceiling, afraid it was either going to collapse on me or start to slowly move toward the floor, threatening to crush me. Though, the archways helped lessen that feeling. So did the windows lining the top of one of the walls, letting shafts of sunlight stream in. I was almost tempted to move toward them, feeling power in that sunlight, reminding me of what I'd harnessed when fighting Astarius.

"What is  _she_  doing here?" a voice rang out, tone hard, like the limestone ceiling. I instantly relaxed, sheathing my sword and glaring in the direction the voice had come. Standing several feet before me were Jason, Nico, and the winged guy (I guess I'd been pulled back into the Labyrinth so much I hadn't even noticed they were there), next to a bust of someone I didn't recognize.

"That's the 'she,' Favonius was talking about," Nico explained in a quiet voice. Favonius…. It took a moment for me to remember from my lessons, but when I finally recalled his Greek name, Zephyros, I also remembered that he was, indeed, a god. God of the West Wind, to be specific.

"Yes, but what is she doing here?" Jason reiterated, glaring at me.

I glared right back, approaching them, hands on my hips. "I'm wondering the same thing." I blinked and shifted my gaze to the winged guy, Zephyros. He withered under my gaze, and I was confused as to why…any god would have such a reaction like that to me.

"It's important that she be with you," Zephyros answered cryptically, looking at Jason and Nico, but shifting nervously, his wings fluttering restlessly.

"Be with us for what? What are you even doing here?" Jason asked, still sounding annoyed, but more confused than anything else."

"Several things!" Zephyros exclaimed, shaking off some of his anxiousness, it seemed. "Hanging out with my basket of fruit. I always carry a basket of fruit. Would you like a pear?"

"I'm good. Thanks." Jason was giving him a weird look, but Zephyros ignored it.

"Let's see…earlier I was eating ice cream. Right now I'm tossing this quoit ring." Zephyros spun a bronze hoop he'd appeared out of nowhere on his index finger. I shifted weight onto one of my legs and crossed my arms. I wanted to get him back on track, but Jason beat me to the punch.

"I mean why did you appear to us?" His blue eyes flickered to me, sparking with lightning. "And bring her here? Why did you lead us to this cellar?"

"Oh!" Zephyros nodded. "The sarcophagus of Diocletian. Yes. This was its final resting place. The Christians moved it out of the mausoleum. Then some barbarians destroyed the coffin. I just wanted to show you"—he spread his hands, shrugging apologetically—"that what you're looking for isn't here. My master has taken it."

I felt a cold wind blow through, so to speak, and a story started to surface in my mind. Something about the West Wind, Apollo, Hyacinthus…and someone else. But who?

"Your master?" Jason asked, pulling me away from the memory, though I tried to concentrate on the feeling, on the story, hoping it'd become clearer. A stone was beginning to form in the pit of my stomach. "Please tell me your master isn't Aeolus." I almost wanted to shush Jason just so I could think, but before I could, Zephyros responded to Jason's inquiries.

" _That_  airhead?" Zephyros rolled his eyes and snorted, throwing his quoit ring up almost to the top of the ceiling and easily catching it again. "No, of course not."

"He means Eros," Nico spoke, his voice tense. "Cupid, in Latin."

I sucked in a sharp breath, the story coming back to me full force. I turned toward Zephyros. "The West Wind! And Apollo!" I exclaimed, causing the minor god to jump back and look at me warily. I finally understood why he'd acted the way he had when we'd first met, and ever since bringing me here. He must've thought, and still thought, that children held the same grudge Apollo held toward him.

"Yes." Zephyros swallowed hard and nodded. "Uh, not great seeing you, no offense." He gave me a small, pained smile before turning toward Nico. "But I'm glad to see you again. It's been a long time."

Nico frowned, his eyebrows knitting together. "I've never met you."

"You've never  _seen_  me," Zephyros corrected, relaxing. "But I've been watching you. When you came here as a small boy, and several times since. I knew eventually you would return to look upon my master's face." The god looked at me, and for once, there was no nervousness. "Both of you."

Ice water filled my veins, the pin-pricks reacting as well. Pushing them away as best I could, I glanced at Nico, who looked like he was about to be sick. His wide, brown eyes met mine, almost pleading. I tried to communicate to him it'd be okay silently.

Jason's eyes darted between us. "What's he talking about?"

Nico blinked rapidly, breaking my gaze. "I don't know. Nothing."

Jason then looked at me expectantly, as if I held all the answers, but Zephyros spoke before I could say anything, "Nothing?" he cried. "The one you care for most…plunged into Tartarus, and still you will not allow the truth?" Zephyros's eyes flickered to me momentarily, like he knew about our talk a few days ago, up in the rigging of the  _Argo II_. Had that not been enough? I guess that was a stupid question, I had a feeling Nico still had a lot of internalized homophobia to work through. Just because he'd seemed okay talking to me, didn't mean he wasn't still working through the self-hate and shame that were taught to him from society because of the time he grew up in.

However, what all this had to do with  _me_ , I had no idea. Maybe it was  _because_  he'd admitted it to me, even if it was in a roundabout way?

I took a step toward Nico, but he noticed and subtly waved me off, so I held off for the moment. Nico looked back at Zephyros.

"We've only come for Diocletian's scepter," Nico said, his voice wavering slightly. "Where is it?"

"Ah…" Zephyros nodded, looking sad. "You thought it would be as easy as facing Diocletian's ghost? I'm afraid not, Nico. Your trials will be  _much_  more difficult."

I stepped in the line of sight between Zephyros and Nico, glaring at the god. "He's been through enough," I snapped.

Zephyros met my glare evenly, all nerves apparently forgotten. His eyes remained sad as he looked at me. "You would know, wouldn't you? You're still working through all that loss, and grief, and pain, aren't you?"

I felt the ice water still in my veins freeze completely, a sharp breath expelling from my lungs. "Y-y-you don't know that—" I stuttered, feeling breathless and a little dizzy.

Zephyros interrupted me in a soft, but firm voice, "You know, long before this was Diocletian's Palace, it was the gateway to my master's court. I've dwelt here for eons, bringing those who sought love into the presence of Cupid."

"Like Psyche," Jason spoke. "Cupid's wife. You carried her to this palace."

Zephyros smiled, the sadness in his eyes dissipating. "Very good, Jason Grace." He shifted again, more toward Jason. "From this exact spot, I carried Psyche on the winds and brought her to the chambers of my master. In fact, that is why Diocletian built  _his_  palace here. This place has always been graced by the gentle West Wind." He spread his arms, his wings also spreading and flapping gently, stirring the dust motes. "It is a spot of tranquility and love in a turbulent world. When Diocletian's Palace was ransacked—"

"You took the scepter," Jason finished, his tone accusing.

"For safekeeping," Zephyros added. "It is one of Cupid's many treasures, a reminder of better times. If you want it…" The god turned back to Nico and I. He looked at me, then his eyes rested on Nico. "You must face the god of love."

I looked away and squeezed my eyes shut, my hands balling into fists. I was trying to be strong, to be there for Nico, because it seemed like this was more Nico's trial than mine. But I could feel myself crumbling. Obviously, I also had an important role to play in this little… _game_  of theirs. And I was so  _tired_  of the gods' games.

"Nico," Jason said, breaking me from my thoughts. I opened my eyes again and turned to face them, more so Nico. "You can do this. It might be embarrassing, but it's for the scepter." Jason's eyes flickered to me, but he offered no words of encouragement. Didn't matter much to me anyway.

I faced Zephyros again. "Can't you just…leave him out of this?" I pleaded.

"No, Jason's right," Nico said, though he didn't sound too sure. I turned toward him again, but he wouldn't meet my gaze as he squared his shoulders. "I—I'm not afraid of a love god."

"And you, Victoria Williams?" Zephyros asked. I looked back at him. I thought about his comments earlier, about grief and loss, and felt myself withering. I'd gone through, and was still dealing with, a lot of loss. But I had a pretty good feeling  _which_  one Zephyros was referencing. I didn't like it. I didn't want to do this. But I also knew I didn't really have much of a choice, not if I wanted this mission to fail.

"Fine." I finally told the wind god.

Zephyros grinned, which seemed out of place for the current seriousness of the situation. "Excellent! Would you like a snack before you go?" He scooped up a green apple from his basket, but then frowned. "Oh, bluster. I keep forgetting my symbol is a basket of  _unripe_  fruit. Why doesn't the spring wind get more credit? Summer has  _all_  the fun."

"That's okay," Nico said quickly. "Just take us to Cupid."

Zephyros spun the hoop in his finger, a smile with a mischievous edge to it on his lips, and suddenly I was air again. I couldn't even pay attention to what we were flying over because I was trying hard not to outright panic. I was afraid if I did, I'd lose myself completely. Having other people there, that I could sense, did help me a little more than last time. But last time, the trip had been relatively short. This trip was much longer.

When we landed, I didn't fall flat on my face, but it took a moment for me to gather my bearings. We were in what looked to ruins of an ancient Roman town. Crumbling structures, cracked, cobbled roads, everything overgrown with grass and ivy snaking up structure walls and pillars. With the sunlight and the warm summer breeze, it was actually quite beautiful. If I wasn't about to face the god of love, and hadn't almost literally lost my mind to the wind, I would've enjoyed being here. It was quiet and peaceful. I could've stayed here forever, away from my demigod life.

Still, my hands were shaking from the trip.

"Yes, mortal bodies are  _terribly_  bulky," Zephyros said, responding to something no one had voiced. He was standing, leaning against a nearby wall with his basket of fruit. His wings were spread out, soaking in the sun. "Honestly, I don't know how you stand it, day in and day out."

When I spotted him, without even thinking, I had approached the god of the West Wind, grabbing a fistful of his tank top.

"You ever do that again, without my permission, I  _will_  summon Apollo—Cupid's protection or no." I growled, getting into his face.

Zephyros gave me a nervous smile, gripping my wrist. "Right, uh…" He trailed off, prying my fingers from his shirt and carefully side-stepping me. I let him go, resting my hand against the wall, bowing my head for a moment. My breath was coming out in shaky gasps, and my knees felt weak. I wasn't even sure why I was having such a strong reaction. Looking around, there were no real threats. But there was one looming, and it was like my body was reacting before it had even appeared. I'm sure that anxiety that came with not having a physical body didn't help. Not to mention that being wind, for some reason, only aggravated the prickles. It was becoming harder and harder to focus on anything but them.

"Welcome to Salona," I heard Zephyros exclaim a few feet behind me. I continued to face the wall, trying to get my breathing under control. My free hand ghosted to the hilt of my sword. The helpless feeling I'd had in Tartarus was starting to overtake my senses. "Capital of Dalmatia! Birthplace of Diocletian! But before that,  _long_  before that, it was the home of Cupid."

His name echoed through the ruins, a thousand voices, whispers, repeating that name, like a prayer. I stiffened, my hand gripping the hilt of my sword and slowly straightened up, turning to face Zephyros. He'd moved more toward Jason and Nico.

"Oh, he's not like that." Zephyros was looking at Jason, but I couldn't read the god's expression because his back was to me.

Jason visibly flinched, which was a first for him. At least that I'd ever seen. "You can read minds?"

Zephyros threw his hoop in the air. I swear he just made things appear out of thin air, or he had some kind of magic, Marry Poppins pockets. "I don't need to.  _Everyone_  has the wrong impression of Cupid…until they meet him."

Movement caught my eye and my eyes flickered over to Nico just in time to see him brace himself against a nearby column, and noticed that he was trembling. He looked like he was going to be severely sick.

"Hey, man…" Jason took a step toward him, but Nico waved him off.

I swallowed my anxiety and pushed away from the wall, turning to face the others. "Nico," I called. He looked up and met my eyes, shook his head once, almost imperceptibly. I nodded back, just as small and kept where I was, even though the grass around Nico's feet turned brown and wilted. The circle around him slowly spread outward, leeching life from the surrounding glass like a plague you could see.

"Ah," Zephyros nodded. "I don't blame you for being nervous, Nico di Angelo. Do you know how  _I_  ended up serving Cupid?"

Heart still beating out of my chest, I slowly approached them, staying a good distance away from Zephyros. My hands continuously twitched toward the hilt of my sword, but tried not to grab it just yet.

"I don't serve anyone," Nico muttered, still leaning on the pillar, the grass still withering. "Especially not Cupid."

"Hyacinthus," I whispered as I got closer.

Zephyros nodded, but winced and threw a nervous glance my way. "Yes, Victoria Williams, I fell in love with a mortal named Hyacinthus." Another nervous glance. "He was, uh,  _quite_  extraordinary."

"He…?" Jason blinked as if trying to process this information, and I was prepared to tell him off if the need arose. "Oh."

"Yes, Jason Grace," the West Wind god's voice was dry as he drawled out Jason's name. "I fell in love with a  _dude_. Does that shock you?"

"I guess not." Jason sucked in a big breath before blowing it out. "So…Cupid stuck you with his arrow, and you fell in love."

Zephyros tutted. "You make it sound so simple. Alas, love is never simple. You see, the god Apollo also liked Hyacinthus. He claimed they were just friends—" His voice became joking, like he didn't believe Apollo's words, but he broke off and shot another nervous glance my way. "Well, I don't know. But one day I came across them together, playing a game of quoits—"

"Quoits?" Jason repeated.

"A game with those hoops," Nico explained, his voice weak. "Like horseshoes."

"Sort of." Zephyros shrugged. "At any rate, I was jealous. Instead of confronting them and finding out the truth, I shifted the wind and sent a heavy metal ring right at Hyacinthus's head and…well." He sighed before throwing yet another anxious look my way.

I shifted my weight and put my hands on my hips. "Look, I'm not one to hold grudges—that's wrong." I paused and rethought my statement. "I'm not one to hold my parents' grudges. I can tell you that Apollo was definitely in love with Hyacinthus, so you probably want to stick around with Cupid for…forever."

Zephyros nodded, not looking convinced before turned to face Jason again. "As…as Hyacinthus died, Apollo turned him into a flower, a hyacinth. I'm sure Apollo"—another glance at me—"would've taken horrible vengeance on me, but Cupid offered me his protection. I'd done a terrible thing, but I'd been driven mad by love, so he spared me, on the condition that I work for him forever."

_Cupid._

It was eerie how his name echoed through the ruins, those whispering voices, sending chills down my spine.

"That would be my cue." The ring Zephyros had been playing with disappeared. "Think long and hard about how you proceed, Nico di Angelo. You cannot lie to Cupid." He stopped to punctuate that sentence and looked in my direction, giving me a pointed look before looking back at Nico. "If you let your anger rule you…well, your fate will be even sadder than mine."

Zephyros disappeared in a swirl of red and gold, then. The summer air nearly suffocating; I felt like I could barely breathe. I pulled my sword as the ground beneath me shook. It must've been the situation, because the three of us formed a tight circle without even thinking, backs facing each other as we scanned the ruins, our respective swords drawn.

_So._

His voice shot through the air like a bullet, rushing right past me. I looked in the direction it'd gone, but nothing was there. My grip tightened on the hilt of my sword as my eyes darted around, trying to catch the god of love.

 _You come to claim the scepter._  His voice was deep and rich, it reverberated right through my skull and resonated in my bones. I couldn't be sure if it was because he was a god, or if he was using some kind of power to make his voice have that effect.

"Cupid," Jason called. "Where are you?"

The god laughed.  _Where you least expect me,_  he answered.  _As Love always is._

I heard the stirring of air near Jason and had just enough time to shove him out of the way before a force hit me square in the chest, sending me flying across the street and toppling down some steps, coming to a stop flat on my back, in some cavern or basement, or something. From a short distance, I could hear Cupid speaking again, but my head was spinning and I was trying to quiet my chronic pain.

By the time I gathered my bearings, Nico and Jason had joined me.

"Are you okay?" Nico asked. I glanced at Jason, noticed actual concern in his eyes and was so stunned it took me a moment to answer Nico.

"…yeah, yeah, I…I'm just a little dazed," I mumbled taking Nico's offered hand and getting to my feet, trying to shake off the feelings of my pin-pricks rippling through my body. Jason held out my sword for me. (I'd accidentally dropped it when I'd hit the ground. Figures.) I tried not to feel awkward as I took it from him.

Cupid's deep, rumbling laugh shook the basement.  _Oh, did you expect me to play fair? I am the god of love. I am_ never _fair._

Beside me, Jason sucked in a sharp breath before intercepting an arrow, aimed straight at Nico's chest, and deflecting it sideways. The arrow exploded as soon as it hit the nearest wall, and I raised my arm, shielding myself as best I could from the limestone shrapnel.

We all ran up the steps, Jason and I pulling Nico out of the way as a gust of wind knocked a large column over where we'd just been standing.

"Is this guy Love or Death?" Jason spat.

 _Ask your friends,_  Cupid replied.  _Frank, Hazel, and Percy met my counterpart, Thanatos. We are not so different. Except Death is sometimes kinder._

"More like two sides of the same coin," I muttered, gripping the hilt of my sword. I had loved, and still loved, Luke so much it hurt. I had loved him so much, it made his death that much worse.

Cupid laughed again.  _Keen observation, Victoria Williams._  His tone scared me near the end, like a warning. Another small stirring of wind near Nico this time. I looked over to see another arrow materialize, aimed straight at him again. I deflected this one upward, which exploded in the air, raining ash and bits of arrow shrapnel down on us.

"We just want the scepter!" Nico yelled. "We're trying to stop Gaea. Are you on the gods' side or not?"

A third arrow embedded itself in the ground, right between Nico's feet, glowing white-hot. I pulled Nico back just as the arrow burst into a geyser of flame.

 _Love is on every side,_  Cupid responded.  _And no one's side. Don't ask what Love can do for you._

Jason made a face, rolling his eyes. "Great, now he's spouting greeting card messages." A few seconds later, he responded to something beside him and I heard someone grunt. When I looked, I could see golden ichor shimmering in the sunlight. Droplets of the blood of the gods on the stones.

 _Very good, Jason,_  Cupid said.  _At least you can sense my presence. Even a glancing hit at true love is more than most heroes manage._

"So now I get the scepter?" Jason asked.

Cupid's laugh boomed through the ruins again.  _Unfortunately, you could not wield it. Only a child of the Underworld can summon the dead legions. And only an officer of Rome can lead them._

"But…" Jason trailed off, and for the first time since I'd met the guy, he sounded unsure. A few seconds passed, as I kept my senses open to another attack from Cupid, before Jason spoke again. "Just leave that to us. Nico can summon—"

A fourth arrow zipped past me; too late, did I notice it. Nico gasped as it sunk into his sword arm.

"Nico!" Jason and I exclaimed simultaneously, as Nico stumbled. The arrow dissolved, showing no sign of actual injury, I couldn't even sense he'd just been shot in the arm. But Nico's expression was pained, and rage swirled in his dark brown eyes.

"Enough games!" Nico yelled, his voice low and rough. "Show yourself!"

 _It's a costly thing,_  Cupid answered.  _Looking on the true face of Love._

Another column toppled and I had to leap away to avoid being crushed. Jason had jumped in the opposite direction. As I was coming up, an arrow materialized right in front of my face and I threw myself back to the ground. I quickly scrambled to my feet just in time to see another arrow hurtling toward me. I had to drop my sword and draw my dagger to deflect the arrow, which exploded in the air again.

More arrows came at me, one after another, keeping me off guard and unable to regroup. It was all I could do to deflect them. It was like he was pushing me back toward something, but the arrows were coming too fast, not giving me time to look around.

Cupid continued to speak, as if he wasn't shooting at me.

_My wife, Psyche, learned that lesson. She was brought here eons ago, when this was the site of my palace. We met only in the dark. She was warned never to look upon me, and yet she could not stand the mystery. She feared I was a monster. One night, she lit a candle, and beheld my face as I slept._

Finally, he stopped shooting arrows. I was breathing hard, trying to block out my chronic pain, but I knew I couldn't let my guard down. It was hard to fight an invisible enemy, but even harder when that enemy could topple walls, columns, and shoot deadly accurate arrows.

"Were you  _that_  ugly?" Jason asked.

Cupid laughed again.  _I was too handsome, I'm afraid._  And I'd thought Apollo was vain.  _A mortal cannot gaze upon the true appearance of a god without suffering consequences. My mother, Aphrodite, cursed Psyche for her distrust. My poor lover was tormented, forced into exile, given horrible tasks to prove her worth. She was sent to the Underworld on a quest to show her dedication. She earned her way back to my side, but she suffered greatly._

Before I'd met Luke, I always thought it was ludicrous just how much Psyche had suffered for her mistake. How much she had done in order to return to stand at Cupid's side. After, however, I understood all too well. I would've done the same to be at Luke's side—moved heaven and earth if I had to.

Suddenly thunder boomed, shaking the ground, breaking me from my thoughts. Lightning blasted a crater where, I assumed, Jason thought Cupid had been standing. Silence followed, and I tensed, gripping my dagger, prepared for any more arrows. My sword was lying a few feet away from me. Just a little too far for me to risk lunging for it. Besides, my dagger was better equipped to deflect arrows that came perhaps  _too_  close to my person.

Then Jason hit the ground, his sword flying from his hand.

 _A good try,_  Cupid spoke,  _but Love cannot be pinned down so easily._

A wall next to where Jason lay collapsed and I felt my stomach knot when he just barely managed to roll out of the way. There was another stirring of air and I instinctively lifted my dagger to deflect yet another arrow.

"Stop it!" Nico shouted. "It's me you want. Leave them alone!"

_Not just you._

I spun around, swinging my dagger, his voice sounding right in my ear, but missed. Something hooked my ankle and sent me sprawling. I rolled aside just as another arrow embedded into the stone where I'd just been laying. I shielded my face and rolled slightly onto my left side as a column of flame burst from the arrow.

 _Poor Nico di Angelo._  Cupid's voice was distant now and I allowed myself a short breath to push back the prickles before getting back to my feet, scooping up my dagger.  _Do you know what_ you _want, much less what I want? My beloved Psyche risked everything in the name of Love. It was the only way to atone for her lack of faith. And you—what have you risked in my name?_

I cursed under my breath, wanting to tear the god of love to shreds. It wasn't like I was expecting Nico to suddenly unlearn his internalize self-hatred after a few talks with me, but having Cupid prey on him because of it filled me with blinding rage. I sheathed my dagger and started to make my way toward Nico, but another column started to fall. I jumped and rolled out of the way, coming up, ready for any arrows. But none came, thankfully.

"I've been to Tartarus and back," Nico growled. "You don't scare me."

_I scare you very, very much. Face me. Be honest._

I stood, on alert for any wayward arrows and started to slowly make my way toward Nico again. Around Nico, the grass got browner if that was even possible. The ground rumbled and the stones around him cracked, almost like he was causing a miniature, localized earthquake.

"Give us Diocletian's scepter," Nico said, his voice stronger, but his hands were shaking. "We don't have time for games."

 _Games?_  Cupid exclaimed just as Nico was struck, throwing him into a granite pedestal.

"Nico!" I called, concern overwhelming me. I started sprinting toward him.

_Love is no game! It is not flowery softness! It is hard work—a quest that never ends. It demands everything from you—especially the truth. Only then does it yield rewards. Victoria knows._

I stumbled at his words, having to stop, just feet away from Nico. My chest tightened as I started getting flashbacks to my time with Luke—all of it, the good, and the bad.

"What does he mean?" Jason called from somewhere to my right.

"I…I don't know," I stuttered, becoming overwhelmed with the flashbacks. It wasn't just that they showed me what I'd missed so much, but all the emotions came with it. Strong and fresh, like ripping open a wound that's scarred over.

"Nico, what does this guy  _want_  from you?" Jason asked, then.

 _Tell him, Nico di Angelo,_  Cupid said.  _Tell him you are a coward—_

"He is not a coward!" I exclaimed, but Cupid spoke over me.

_—afraid of yourself and your feelings. Tell him the real reason you ran from Camp Half-Blood, and why you are always alone._

"You're not alone!" I shouted, looking at Nico, who was looking more and mosre lost the longer Cupid spoke. I fought off the flashbacks I was getting, sure it was Cupid's doing, and focused on Nico. "I'm here for you."

Nico held my gaze, his chest heaving, looking like a trapped animal.

I took a hesitant step toward him. "Nico—"

 _Tell him!_  Cupid commanded.

Nico let loose a guttural scream. The ground at his feet cracked and split open, skeletons clawing their way out. They were dead Romans, some with missing hands, caved-in skulls, cracked ribs, and unhinged jaws. Some wore tattered and torn togas, others had pieces of armor hanging off their bones.

I rushed forward, closing the distance between Nico and I. He'd sunk to his knees, his eyes far away. His breath came in rough, ragged gasps. I fell to my knees as I got to him, taking his head in my hands.

 _Will you hide among the dead, as you always do?_  Cupid jeered.

"Don't listen to him," I whispered just as I was hit with a wave of darkness, drowning me in hatred, fear, and shame. My stomach tightened into a painful knot and my heart rammed against my chest, the pin-pricks rushing through my body waves like a stormy sea, but it wasn't anything I hadn't experienced before. It was stronger than I was used to (except for the chronic pain), but I could handle it. What mattered now was being there for Nico.

Nico's eyes were fixed on something behind me, his expression dark, filled with rage. I looked over my shoulder to see the Roman skeletons grappling with something invisible. Cupid struggled against them, roughly flinging them aside, crushing ribs and skulls, but it was futile. The skeletons began to overwhelm him, pinning his arms.

 _Interesting!_  I could hear the cruel smile in Cupid's voice.  _Do you have the strength, after all?_

I looked back at Nico, his head still in my hands. "Look at me," I urged, his eyes still transfixed on the god behind me. "Nico,  _look at me_." I commanded, tightening my grip on his head slightly. Finally, Nico's eyes flickered over to mine, and as soon as they met, the darkness in his gaze lifted. "It's okay." I whispered as his brown eyes softened, filling with tears. "I'm here for you.  _You're safe._ "

Nico's lower lip trembled and tears streamed from his eyes. "I hate him." He spat through gritted teeth. "I hate him!  _I hate him!_  I hate Percy Jackson!" Nico leaned into me, and I let go of his head, wrapping my arms tightly around his shoulders, as he sobbed into my shoulder. Nico's arms came around me, gripping fistfuls of my shirt in his hands. I cradled the back of his head, this all too reminiscent of when I'd held Will after Nico had rejected him in such a horrible way.

So much had changed since then.

"Tori look out!" Jason shouted.

I only had time to lift my head before I felt the arrow pierce my heart. And I don't mean that in any dramatic way. The arrow went through my back, between my ribs, and stopped with the arrow head protruding through the front of my chest. Through and through.

The pain I was expecting wasn't there. I couldn't really describe the sensation, only that it was…odd, off. I felt breathless and dizzy. I started to sink even lower to the ground. I had gasped when it'd made its mark because of the pain, but now there was no pain and I just felt confused. The world had tilted slightly to the left and I was reeling.

Nico pulled away, looking at me, stunned. Some tears still leaked from the corners of his eyes. He held my arms and I gripped his, trying to stay upright. I glanced down to see the arrow dissolve, once again leaving no trace that it had harmed me in any way, but I felt…

"Tori," Nico gasped through is tears. "Are you okay?" He sucked in a sharp breath. "Y-you're crying."

"Am I?" I asked, still dazed. My voice sounded distant. Carefully, I let go of one of Nico's arms and reached up to wipe my fingers underneath my eye. Sure enough, when I pulled away, there were tears on my fingertips. "Oh." I blinked rapidly trying to understand what this feeling was, and more tears spilled down my face.

"Tori—" Nico broke off and looked over my shoulder, glaring at something that was coming toward us. They stopped next to Nico and me. I looked to my right to see loafers, then plain jeans, and a lean, muscular young man in a simple white frock. He had a bow and quiver slung over his shoulder. His hair was short, straight and jet-black. His face was difficult to look at, like trying to look into the sun or into a spotlight. But when I met his eyes, an intense crimson red, like nothing I'd ever seen before, all my memories of Luke flooded my mind.

It felt like I'd sat there for years, reliving  _everything_  I'd gone through with Luke. It was on super fast-forward but the feel of his lips on mine, his skin against mine, his calloused hands caressing my cheek; his smile, those gorgeous eyes, the expression he got when sparring, when looking at me; the sound of his laugh, his voice when he told me he loved me… _so real._

The scenes slowed when it got near the end. I heard my own gut-wrenching scream echo in my ears after Luke had died, followed by heart-wrenching sobs, my pleading and begging, apologizing. It was  _real_  and raw. So very, very raw. And  _red_ , like Cupid's eyes.

I blinked and was looking up at the god of love again. Throughout this whole ordeal, for the first time, his expression was sympathetic.

"It's not enough," I whispered, not able to break his gaze, like he was holding me there.

"What?" Nico asked in a quiet voice.

I closed my eyes, tears streaming from the corners, keeping my head inclined up as I recited the words from a play Dan had been in, a play of love and loss: "'Love is…not enough." My voice was hoarse and I paused. "It's  _too much_. And it's…not enough.'" When I opened my eyes again, Cupid was gone. Black encroached my vision, and before I knew it, I'd fainted.

When I came to, I felt the warm stone beneath me. The sun was in my eyes, but the warmth was comforting, providing some relief from the prickles. Then I remembered what'd happened and I bolted up with a gasp, my chest heaving. Nico and Jason were sitting on either side of me, and I looked back and forth between them frantically.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"Just a few seconds," Jason answered. And when I looked at him, for a second time, there was no malice or distrust. I was stunned.

"Did…uh, w-what happened to Cupid?' I asked, reluctantly breaking my gaze from Jason's, afraid if I did, he'd return to his usual annoying, mistrusting self.

Nico held up what I assumed was Diocletian's scepter. It was three feet in length, the staff made of ivory, topped with a dark globe of polished marble the size of a baseball, nestled on the backs of three gold Roman eagles.

"He disappeared after you said…" Nico faltered. His eyes were still red and puffy from crying. I imagine so were mine. "Well, he vanished, leaving this for us."

I nodded. "Right. Good."

"Nico," Jason said. Both Nico and I looked to him, but he kept Nico's gaze. "I just want you to know I support you. I stand behind you."

I looked back at Nico who averted his gaze, looking troubled; his grip tightening on the staff. I carefully reached out and gently took his hand. Nico's eyes flickered up to me. I smiled encouragingly.

"I've seen a lot of brave things," Jason said in a quiet, but firm voice. "But what you just did? That was maybe the bravest."

Nico looked up uncertainly. "We should get back to the ship." He pulled his hand away from mine and I let it go. Nico and Jason stood. I followed a little slower, still feeling a little off kilter. I really wanted to know just what that damned arrow had done to me, because it obviously had a different effect on me than that other arrow had on Nico. Being a god, I had no doubt Cupid could make arrows for specific purposes and people, but that didn't solve the mystery about what and why my arrow had that effect. (And was  _still_  having some sort of effect, it seemed.)

Of course, this being me and my life, I stumbled as I stood, right into Jason.

"Oh, sorry," I muttered out of habit, trying to pull away while not falling down again. Shocked, I felt one of Jason's hands wrap around my arm, the other going to my shoulder as he steadied me. When I met his eyes, he turned beet red and quickly let go. "Uh…thanks?" I felt my own face heating up out of embarrassment and awkwardness.

"Don't mention it," he mumbled, looking away.

I glanced at Nico, then, who was giving us a weird look. "I think I liked it better when you guys hated each other."

I exchanged a glance with Jason again before looking back at Nico.

"Me too," we said simultaneously. This time we exchanged glares.

"You guys need to cut that out," Nico commented, giving us another slightly disturbed look.

"In any case," Jason cleared his throat. His face was still red, but slowly turning back to its normal color. "We should really head back. I can fly us—"

"No," Nico stopped him. "This time we're shadow-traveling. I've had enough of the winds for a while."

I couldn't have agreed with him more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So wow! Another pretty long chapter for you guys (17 whopping pages in a word doc). I hope it was good!
> 
> I have been thinking about this scene for a while now, and I always knew I wanted Tori involved in it in some way because of all she's been through. I'm so glad I was able to incorporate her into this scene. Also, I just feel like this is becoming a thing now—Nico and Tori facing harrowing struggles together.
> 
> Finally, I apologize if it seems a bit OOC for Nico to break down like he did, but…I feel like it's not too far-fetched/far away from his character. Not only that, but also the bond that's been formed between them would warrant that, I feel, because of how much older Tori is compared to Nico and how much they've already been through together. It also felt right for the scene itself, with the modification I made. I hope that makes sense, and I hope you'll excuse the slight deviation.
> 
> I also hope I got the intended emotions across. I re-read it after a good night's sleep and it feels emotional stunted now :\ Could just be me, but I really do hope it has the emotional impact I wanted it to.
> 
> Title taken from Taylor Swift's "Don't Blame Me." Such an aesthetic/stim song for me.
> 
> As always I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	40. Play Fair

When we got back to the ship, they called a meeting. Since it was a casual recount, and a nice day, too, we all decided we could just sit on the top deck. Audrey II rested in my arms, making content noises almost nonstop. I would later be told she was almost in hysterics when I'd been taken. She was screeching and blowing fire. Festus, of all things, was the only one who managed to calm her down. I didn't think she could've understood his creak and click language, but maybe because he was technically a dragon? In any case, when I returned, Audrey II was relieved and wasn't planning on leaving my side any time soon.

The crew gathered around the helm so Leo could work on repairs while Jason, Nico, and I told them what happened, but with edits for Nico's privacy. My part of the story didn't need too much editing, but it did make me wonder why Cupid hadn't done worse.

I should've known just  _thinking_  about it was a bad idea. That, and that things were never that simple. Not for demigods, but especially not for me.

Near the end of our recount, as Jason was finishing up Leo suddenly said, "Tori, you're crying."

I blinked, and jumped at this observation, not having expected it. "What?" I shifted Audrey II so I could hold her with one arm and reached to touch underneath my eye with my free hand, but unlike the last time someone had pointed this out, there were no tears when I pulled my hand away. I looked back at Leo about to ask him if he was sure when a sudden, sharp pain bloomed in my chest. I gasped, and doubled over. Audrey II let out a squawk and flew out of my arm, hovering next to me nuzzling my face with her nose.

"Tori, what's wrong?" Nico asked. I felt someone grip my arm as I continued to sink to the ground.

"I-I don't know," I stuttered grasping at my chest, the pain not subsiding. When I looked down an image flickered in and out, like how leaves sway in the summer breeze, of an arrowhead protruding from my chest. Cupid's arrow.

That strange feeling settled over me, like it had in Salona, as the pain faded. I gripped Nico's arm as I swayed, my vision slowly going dark.

"Tori! Tori, what's going on?" Nico asked, his voice verging on frantic. His eyes flickered from my face to my chest, and I could only assume he saw the arrow too.

"Cupid," I managed, my voice slurring slightly as my world continued to tilt to the left and my vision got darker. "His arrow…must still…be there…" I trailed off as I fell into unconsciousness.

When I came to, I was lying on the deck of the  _Argo II_. Nico and Jason were kneeling on either side of me again, the rest of the crew behind them. I lifted my head slightly to see Audrey II was sitting on my legs, looking glum and droopy, but instantly perked up when she realized I was awake again.

I swallowed hard, my throat feeling dry, and laid my head back down. "How long?" I asked Nico.

His expression darkened. "Thirty seconds."

"You think they're getting longer?" Jason questioned. I looked at him and nodded. "Did you see anything?"

"No." I sighed. "But if they're getting longer, I imagine I'll start to."

"What do you think it means?" Jason asked.

Nico frowned, pulling out Diocletian's scepter. "Why give us this if we hadn't…completed his trial?"

"Maybe it won't work unless Tori deals with…whatever is happening," Jason suggested.

I groaned, pressing the heel of my palms into my eyes. "I hate my life."

"Welcome to the club," I heard Frank say. I snorted in response.

"That still doesn't answer why he'd give it to us in the first place," Nico said, as if Frank and I hadn't said anything. "Why not just save himself the trouble and have us complete his trial before giving us a fully-functioning scepter?"

"He's a god, who knows?" I told him, hoisting myself into a sitting position. Audrey II nuzzled underneath my chin and I scratched her spine in response, to tell her I was going to be okay (probably). "Sorry I screwed this one up for you guys."

To my surprise, Jason was the one who spoke next. "It's not your fault. Cupid is good at playing games."

"We've also got a few days before we reach Epirus, so it gives you some time to figure out what's going on," Leo added.

I scowled at nothing in particular. " _If_  I can figure out what's going on."

* * *

With Audrey II snuggly resting around my neck, I slowly made my way up to Hedge's door. Finally, we were able to talk about this other way of communicating with camp.

Me and my siblings still had conversations, but sometimes the IM would cut out for a few seconds and I'd miss half of their sentence, or they'd miss half of mine. It made conversations cumbersome and last longer than they needed to. But I think my siblings appreciated that I still IMed them at all (…besides the fact that I was keeping things from them so they wouldn't worry about me).

Strangely enough, when I sang to the kids, the IM seemed to strengthen, and thankfully didn't cut out at all. I didn't quite understand it, but was grateful nonetheless because I knew the kids really needed comfort.

Even through the faulty connection, I could tell my siblings were getting restless. I was unsure if it was because they could  _tell_  I was keeping something from them or if it was because the tension was just mounting with the Roman camp threatening to start war…in the middle of a bigger war (that was more important than a stupid feud). It got even worse because I'd blacked out during one our conversations.  _That_  went over well.

Anyway, I was glad they were still sort of working, but I was afraid they would permanently go down soon.

So here I was, at Hedge's door.

I don't know why I felt nervous, but I was. Rubbing my sweaty hands on my pants, I quickly raised one and knocked on Hedge's door. It took a few moments, but he finally opened it—just a crack, like he'd done when he told me the IMs were acting weird/down.

"Um, I finally found time to talk about those…alternative methods?" I asked.

"Yeah." He opened the door wider and gestured inside. I started forward and he moved to open the door wider and let me in. I watched as he then poked his head out, looking up and down the corridor, before slamming the door closed and brushing past me to sit on his bed.

I stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, looking at all the cluttered stuff. Audrey II left my shoulders and flew around the room, sniffing at stuff, like a curious puppy or kitten.

Clothes were scattered around the floor. There was a TV on his dresser in a sea of DVDs and dirty dishes. Tufts of goat hair floated around the room before coming to a rest under the furniture. When the ship tilted, a handful of sports equipment rolled across the floor—footballs, basketballs, baseballs, and a single billiard ball. I yelped and jumped over them, afraid I'd make a misstep, trip, and hurt myself.

Hedge's nightstand contained a bowl of water, a stack of golden drachmas, a flashlight, and a glass prism for making rainbows. I was surprised at the setup, wondering who he'd been calling…it looked like a lot.

Hedge seemed hesitant to talk. The sports ship listed again and I jumped over two basketballs and a football, making my way over to the bed.

"Do you mind if I sit?" I asked, gesturing to the empty spot next to him on the edge of his bed.

Hedge shook his head, not meeting my eyes. I sat down and looked around the room awkwardly, trying to figure out how to get this conversation started. Audrey II came and sat against my thigh after almost being run over by an avalanche of Hedge's sports equipment. After a while of trying, and failing, to come up with ice breakers, Hedge finally spoke.

"You know my, uh…well, you know Mellie?" he asked, his voice gruffer than usual, almost like he was…embarrassed. Was he blushing?

I shrugged, feeling even more awkward. "No, I…don't think I've heard that name before."

The older satyr finally faced me, looking shocked, then suspicious. "Really?"

"Swear on the Styx."

Hedge looked away again, down at the sports equipment as they rolled across the floor. "Well, she's a wind spirit." He paused and smiled to himself before he remembered I was there, and scowled again, but it seemed forced. "And she told me if the IMs ever permanently go down, the wind nymphs will carry notes for you from place to place, you see. I…I know that you talk to your siblings every night, so I thought I'd…pass that along. I can help you with getting started with the wind nymphs and such, if the time comes."

"Thanks Hedge," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'd known of this form of communication already, per Rowen (when they'd sent papers on dealing with PTSD). It was a nice gesture on his part and I wasn't going to ruin that for him. It was clear, for some reason, it made him uncomfortable to talk about. Hedge looked over at me, a little stunned and I smiled. "That means a lot to me."

He blushed and looked away. I removed my hand. "Yeah, well…don't you go telling anyone else about it, all right, cupcake? I got an image to keep up."

I sighed and rolled my eyes at his nickname as I stood. "I promise." Audrey II flew up to rest back on my shoulders.

I precariously made my way back to the door, having to jump over five baseballs and two basketballs this time, while trying not to trip on the clothes strewn about. I opened the door and turned back to say goodbye but Hedge did that "point at his eyes then point at me" thing. I gave him an exasperated look before making an X over my heart. Then I closed the door and shook my head at his antics before making my way to the mess hall to feed Audrey II (I needed to take some pain meds soon).

* * *

I was…getting used to my blackouts. Which is not something you want to say regarding blackouts of any kind. But it'd been two days now since we'd left Split, with several attacks per day (I could sense a pattern starting to appear; if only I could tell  _when_  they were going to happen more than a few seconds in advance). As my blackout periods grew longer, visions of my time with Luke began to manifest, starting from the very first time I'd seen those crystal blue eyes I'd fallen in love with.

Usually, memories like those ripped me open again, gutted me, left me bleeding. For some reason, aside from some small pressure in my chest, the rest of me felt strangely…numb. I couldn't explain it. I wanted to chalk it up to the fact that I'd finally worked through my grief after that weird episode Gaea had shown me—a future with Luke, and our child. But these visions were connected to Cupid's arrow, which meant that's not all they were. Something else was going on here, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what.

I had a feeling things were only going to get worse as my blackouts got longer, and my visions of Luke got closer and closer to that fateful night on Mount Olympus.

I tried to keep everything I did to a minimum, since I wasn't sure when I was going to be hit with a blackout. If I was alone, Audrey II would go get someone so they could time how long I was out. But it wasn't like there was much to do anyway, considering a storm front had hit us almost as soon as we were far enough away from the shores of Croatia. It seemed odd in the middle of the summer. Sure the ocean had plenty of storms, but this storm seemed…colder and more blustery. I always thought of sea storms as something with heavy rains, and waves the size of mountains, thunder and lightning, and gale-force winds (but not this biting).

Anyway, I stayed below decks most of the time. The cold only aggravated my chronic pain, so it was best for me to stay where it was warm and dry. We were supposed to have a meeting, but I opted to skip out because of the weather. When I heard the creak of floorboards above me, I figured that meant the others had agreed.

Sighing, I sat down on the edge of the cot I'd made my permanent residence in when I felt the familiar sharp pain in my chest.

"Not again," I half-gasped, half-groaned. As the lightheadedness settled over me, I tried my best to lay down in my cot before I fell unconscious.

Usually when I woke up from these spells, there was someone from the crew sitting near me. I was used to that. I'd groan and sit up, ask them how long, and they'd report it. This time, however, when I opened my eyes again I was encased in what looked to be a coffin of ice.

My first instinct (after I'd pushed away the pin-pricks; the cold only making this task harder) was to sit up, but seeing as I was in a pretty constricting place, I'd just end up slamming my head against ice, which wouldn't help with the panic. Speaking of, I tried not to panic, the feeling of claustrophobia already creeping up on me. The fact that Audrey II wasn't near me only added to my initial panic. Though, it wasn't  _really_  the claustrophobia, it was the fact that it reminded me of the ice room I'd encountered in the Labyrinth.

I couldn't really see through the ice, it was so thick, and I wondered what was going on, and where I was.

First I had to get my breathing under control. Against all my instincts, I closed my eyes and worked to calm myself down using a technique Rowan had taught me: my breaths out were to be longer than my breaths in; it was supposed to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (the opposite of the system that activated your fight or flight response). Once I felt my heart had calmed down enough and the panic subsided, I slowly opened my eyes again, keeping my breathing slow and even. The prickles, however, seemed to have a mind of their own. I had to split my concentration, which was taxing.

I felt around and realized I was still lying on the cot in the infirmary. Okay, so that was a start. I was still on the ship. Then what'd  _happened_  that could've caused this? I guess, at this point it didn't really matter. I had to get out of this before I froze to death, and then I had to make sure the rest of the crew was okay.

I closed my eyes again, focusing on the power of my rune and the warmth of the sun, keeping my breathing deep and low. It was a bit harder without any actual sunlight, but I could feel the heat building in my little bubble. Every exhalation was warmer and warmer. (And the warmth did wonders for my chronic pain.) I felt the drips of water as the ice around me melted, but I could do more. I knew I could evaporate it on contact, so I conjured every good memory I could—my friends, my siblings, my mom, Luke—and sang of happier times.

Eventually, the ice hissed and steamed as soon as it came close to me. I was able to sit up and make my way through the room, melting all the ice. Eventually, the sick bay was completely clear and humming with warmth (the best I can explain it, though thinking back on it, it was probably me that was humming, on a physical level that is). I walked to the doors, held my arms out, running my hands over the ice, and easily evaporated it away.

To my surprise, the corridor and the engine room wasn't like it'd been in the sickbay. Most of the walls and floor was covered in a thin layer of ice, with another small layer of frost on that, like you'd see from an ice storm. I heard the familiar hum of the engine and wondered why it hadn't been frozen, but knew my first priority was the rest of the crew. So I started up the stairs, continuously evaporating away the ice in my path and around me, I was emanating so much heat.

The corridor for the rooms looked like the corridor downstairs. I made my way slowly down the hall, through the rooms, and noting where people were passed out. (Audrey II was passed out with Nico. Still breathing, thankfully.) I wanted to melt everything before I moved anyone, afraid I wouldn't be able to start and then stop the magic I had going here. By the time I was done with the entire ship, including the top deck, I was exhausted, and felt much like I had after I'd saved the group from that ice room in the Labyrinth. Except this time, I had pin-pricks that were acting up (again, now that I wasn't buzzing with warmth).

Ignoring both, I checked on the crew. On the bunk deck, I found Frank, Hazel, Hedge, and Nico, all with beginning stages of hypothermia. I moved them to mess hall, since there was no way I was going to be able to carry Frank down a narrow flight of stairs to the sick bay, and I wanted everyone in one spot so I could monitor them. I quickly got some ambrosia and fed them small squares to help them warm up. Since Audrey II was a reptile, she'd simply gone into hibernation-like state. Once I'd warmed up the ship, she woken up and flew next to me as I moved everyone.

Then I went above deck, hoping that I'd somehow missed Leo, because on my first go-around, I hadn't seen him. Piper and Jason were where I'd noted, but there was no sign of Leo, which really worried me.

The strange storm we'd been in had passed. The ship had docked—a little haphazardly—on the shore of a place I didn't recognize.

Several hundred yards inland towered a large structure that looked like a giant wall that stretched across the landscape, but with different sized holes carved through them. Hot winds blasted in and out of them, making a musical sound as they did so. It was weird, but I was thankful for the heat. And as much as I wanted to examine the structure further, try to figure out where we were, I needed to see to Jason and Piper.

Jason was nearest me, so I went up to him first. As I got closer, I noticed his lips were tinged blue, the rest of his skin very nearly snow white. I quickly went up to him and realized he was shivering pretty violently, even in this heat, under the sun. Must have been some winter magic. His pulse was slow, hard to register—moderate hypothermia.

I looked over at Piper, then, afraid she might be the same. I glanced down at Jason one more time before running over to her. She looked much worse. Her skin looked off and a little puffy. When I took her pulse, it was nearly nonexistent—severe hypothermia.

I looked back at Jason, not liking my choices. Everyone was still unconscious downstairs, and they needed their rest, time to warm their bodies up. Piper was priority though, since she was in more danger currently. I picked her up in my arms (my prickles protesting vehemently) and rushed her down the sick bay, gently laying her on one of the cots and getting the nectar. I carefully poured the liquid of the gods down her throat, giving her as much as I dared. To my relief, her skin turned back to its normal shade and stopped looking puffy. She started shivering, and now only her lips were blue, which meant she was only in moderate hypothermia.

I quickly went to look for a heating blanket. I was afraid we wouldn't have any, but Leo had thought of everything (even as demigods who could eat some food of the gods and heal pretty well). I ripped open the package and laid it over her, gently tucking it underneath her. Then I ran back up to the top deck to get Jason. He was still in moderate hypothermia. It was harder getting him down to the sickbay, because he was much heavier than Piper (not to mention half my concentration was focused on trying to  _not_  focus on my chronic pain), but since they were both in more severe stages of hypothermia, I figured it'd be best they be in the sickbay.

I tried, and failed, to lay Jason down gracefully into the cot across from Piper's. I ended up having to lay his torso down, then pull his legs up onto the bed. I gave him some nectar and he stopped shivering, his lips turning pink, and his skin gaining color back (for a white boy, that is). Still, just in case, I opened another heating blanket and threw that over him, as well.

Looking around the room, I thought about raising the temperature a little. Leo had told me some kind of mechanism he'd built into the ship allowed the rooms to change temperature based on what the person wanted, but I was unsure how that mechanism worked, other than me…willing it to change.

I kept what temperature I wanted it at in my mind and waited until I was sure I could tell the difference (and may have lingered, it quieting my pin-pricks for the moment). After making sure Piper and Jason still seemed okay (and were breathing), I went back upstairs to check on the others, in the mess hall. They were all still breathing, too, and still fast asleep. Most of them had stopped shivering, and now I'm sure their bodies were just letting them get their much needed rest.

Letting out a slow breath in cautious relief, I went back downstairs to the sickbay. I took some pain meds and then pulled up a chair between the two beds, so I could monitor both of them. Audrey II came to rest in my lap, curled up in a little ball. She rumbled contentedly as I leaned back and stared up at the ceiling, listening to all of them breathing. I hadn't meant to fall asleep, but after the day's events, my body was exhausted, and so was my mind.

For the first time in a long time, I dreamed about the night my mom died.

I'd get these nightmares occasionally, just because of the trauma of the whole memory. But I hadn't had a nightmare like this in so long. My mind had been plagued by so many other,  _fresher_  traumas since then, they pushed out that specific one. Until now, apparently.

I particularly hated this nightmare, for many obvious reasons. I always felt so helpless, even now, after all these years of training and combat. I felt 14 and absolutely oblivious to the dangers of the world again. I was frozen as I watched my mom struggle with the hellhound, as it ripped her open and her blood poured out onto the floor, her pleas to Apollo.

Even after all these years, it was so fresh in my mind.

I whimpered and jerked awake, crying out, "No, Mom!"

For a long moment, I was disoriented. My vision wasn't quite clear, and I couldn't understand why I was  _so warm_. It was helping with the prickles, though, so that was a nice bonus.

The room tilted and swayed, and there was a figure standing over me that I couldn't make out. Some warm pressure was resting on my shoulder, but I couldn't figure out what it was. My heart was hammering in my chest, and I still felt 14, so my instincts didn't kick in right away. I straightened up in my chair, looking around, trying to gather my bearings. My hand instinctively came up to cover whatever was on my shoulder—turns out it was another hand. My eyes strayed back at the figure before me.

In retrospect, it was probably a good thing, because once my vision cleared enough I could see, the figure standing before me turned out to be Jason—I could've very well attacked him had I been dreaming of Tartarus—and it was his hand on my shoulder.  _His_  hand that I was currently holding.

I blinked in shock at this tender gesture and removed my hand from his. He pulled back and sat down on the edge of his cot, looking at me with concern. Even though I'd gotten over the initial confusion from waking up, his expression was only throwing me back into a confused state. Audrey II was still sound asleep in my lap, though she'd shifted when I'd straightened up.

We stared at each other for a long time. I think he was expecting me to say something. I was still in too much shock to even think of something to say.

Jason's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I breathed, but when I blinked, I felt a tear stream down my cheek. I quickly went to wipe it away, and tried to blink back the tears forming in my eyes, only this caused more to spill out. I stood up, causing Audrey II to squawk in surprise and annoyance, flapping her wings to keep from falling, and turned away from Jason. I tried to take deep breaths as my tears kept coming.

"Wow, this is embarrassing." I muttered, taking another deep breath and blowing it out, setting my hands on my hips, keeping my back turned to Jason. Audrey II, having gotten over her annoyance with me, was now at my feet, looking up at me with wide puppy-dog eyes. When she realized I was crying, however, she circled around me a few times, letting out squeaks before taking flight and resting on my shoulders and around my neck. She rumbled comfortingly, and I gently stroked her tail.

"I didn't know my mom," Jason said suddenly, breaking the silence. I wiped my remaining tears away and inclined my head toward him, so I could hear him better, but not see him. I couldn't believe he was sharing this with me! "She gave me away when I was two to appease Juno, who was angry at Jupiter for having another child with the same woman." I turned a little more, so I could see him. He was still sitting on the edge of his bed, but looking intensely down at a spot on the floor. "My sister, Thalia, raised me instead." Jason scoffed bitterly. "Well, for the time I was with them, anyway."

I turned fully at the mention of Thalia's name, my mind blanching yet again.

"Thalia?" I asked, stunned at this new information. I'm sure it had come up at some point, but I'd probably been too out of it or didn't care enough to listen. "Thalia, daughter of Zeus; friend of Percy and Annabeth; ran away with Annabeth and Luke, Thalia?"

Jason looked up at me, confused at my confusion. "Yeah, Jupiter visited my mom as Zeus seven years before I was born. You didn't know I was her brother?"

A short, incredulous laugh escaped my lips. "No, I…I've only interacted with Thalia a few times. And I don't care to listen to gossip around camp."

Jason continued to stare at me, looking shocked that I'd missed that fact about him. Then realization dawned on his face. "Wait. Back at camp…the rumors…" He blinked and looked away, his eyebrows furrowing. "When you were pushed off that cliff—"

"That was Thalia," I confirmed, going and taking a seat in the chair again. Audrey II immediately moved to my lap.

Jason looked over at me. "Oh." His eyes did a once over. "Did you die?"

It was my turn to be surprised that he didn't know a piece of information about me that I was sure circulated around camp. Then again, I didn't listen to rumors about me, so I didn't know what did circulate around.

"Yes."

"Then how—?"

I looked down at Audrey II and rested my hands gently on her spine. "Luke." I said quietly. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, opening them as I looked at Jason. "He begged Kronos to bring me back. He told Kronos that he wouldn't host the titan if I was dead, so…Kronos complied."

I don't think Jason knew what to think of that. He looked away, down at a spot on the floor again. His eyebrows were smashed together, though, and I could see the gears turning in his head.

"My mom was killed by a hellhound," I finally told him, figuring if he'd opened up to me, he was trying, and so should I.

Jason looked up at me. "You were close."

I lowered my gaze again, smiling to myself. "Yeah."

"She taught you to sing?"

I looked up, startled at that question. I just hadn't been expecting it. "She did."

"Do you get your powers from your dad?"

I shook my head once. "No."

Jason's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "No?"

I shook my head again.

"Like Orpheus," he murmured, eyes straying to the floor.

I nodded. "Like Orpheus," I echoed.

A short silence settled over us before, "What do you think Octavian has to do with this? And Apollo?" Jason met my eyes and I saw a hint of the old Jason, the one that was mistrustful of me. Can you believe that I was relieved? His mistrust was annoying and misplaced (I thought), but it was too weird actually…getting along with him. I briefly wondered if we would ever talk about that—about his mistrust of me, what our relationship was now (because it had definitely changed since Salona).

"I honestly don't know, I'm sorry," I told him. "I think Apollo may have…given him some kind of blessing? Granted some kind of wish of Octavian's? All I know is he probably fucked up somehow. 'He' being Apollo." I thought back to when he'd revealed he was hiding from Zeus.

Jason was frowning deeply. "That doesn't sound good. And Reyna's just left the legion in Octavian's hands."

"You don't like him?"

"He may as well have been a legacy of Mercury for how charming and persuasive he can be," Jason commented. It took me a moment to remember who the Greek counterpart of Mercury was.

"Yet, you still left the legion to him?"

"Annabeth didn't give us much of a choice. If we can heal the rift between the two camps and save the world, then we can do damage control afterward."

"He's really that bad?"

"He's  _really_  that bad." Jason glanced over to Piper then. "Is she going to be okay?" He moved to kneel next to her bed, taking her hand into his. "She still shivering." He looked at me over his shoulder, worry growing in his eyes.

"She should be fine. She's slowly coming down from pretty severe hypothermia," I told him.

"Can we give her more ambrosia? Nectar?"

"I don't want to risk it."

"Can we warm her up faster?"

"Heating her up too fast from severe hypothermia would shock her system and she could die. Slow and steady is what'll be best for her. But she's also a demigod, so she's much more resilient." I carefully stood, cradling Audrey II in one of my arms and went up to Jason, laying a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be okay."

Jason nodded, worry still swirling in his eyes. Now that I was looking at them, they did remind me of Thalia's eyes—electric blue.

"You should rest," Jason said, standing. I pulled my hand away and took a few steps back to give him room. "I can watch her."

I wanted to object, but my body nearly gave out at the word "rest," so I nodded instead. I needed to check on the others, anyway. I was surprised none of them had come down here, but maybe they were still asleep. How long had I been out? In any case, I took two more pain meds before making my way upstairs, to the mess hall. Sure enough they were all there and still sound asleep. They could use it anyway.

Sighing, I sunk into one of the chairs, Audrey II settling back into my lap again. I was too tired to worry about dreams this time, even though I knew Tartarus would most likely pull me back into its depths again.

When I woke, Audrey II calming me down and slowly pulling me from Tartarus, I noticed that the mess hall was empty. For a moment, I panicked, but quickly rationalized they'd all finally woken up. Then I remembered Piper and quickly went to the sickbay to check on her.

I froze at the door, staring at Piper's cot. Jason had joined her under the heating blanket, despite how warm it was in the room already, and they were both sleeping. Piper wrapped in Jason's arms, her head resting against his shoulder, his head resting atop hers.

"It's disgusting, isn't it?" a quiet voice deadpanned from my right. I jumped and clamped my mouth down on a scream, looking over to see Nico, who was looking at Jason and Piper.

Once I'd calmed down, I looked back at them as well. "Sickeningly sweet," I agreed. Even so, I went in to check Piper's vitals, Audrey II moving to sit around my neck as I did so. I had to do it carefully so as not to disturb them or wake them, but I managed it. I lowered the temperature in the room and then left them.

* * *

Despite the threat of blackouts looming over me, we needed all hands on deck for these ship repairs. Piper managed to redirect the explosion from Khione's ice bomb (Khione being the Greek goddess of snow, which explained the ice that'd encapsulated the ship), so not as much damage to the ship was incurred. But there was enough that we'd been stranded for a week (we'd finally replaced the main sail and the rigging, now all we had left were the oars…and any small things that might've been dislodged during our unexpected flight, but that was for Leo to figure out, when we were reunited). Festus may have been able to help, now that Piper had brought him to life (I didn't even want to think about it), but none of us spoke squeak-and-creak.

So, despite protests, I helped get the oars back in alignment. It really sucked that we'd lost our only mechanic who knew all the ins and outs of this intricate flying machine. So as Hazel and Frank tried to decipher the helm, Hedge and I worked on the oars. Piper relayed our messages to Hazel and Frank, and vice versa. Jason was off trying to ask the South Wind for some help with getting us to where we needed to go because the north winds Khione had put into the bomb had also blown us majorly off course.

Nico was off somewhere, but I wasn't sure where or what he was doing. I hoped he was okay, though, because after such a traumatic experience, I could see him curling in on himself again. I wanted him to know that I was still there for him.

"Ready for another trial run?" Hedge called over to me. I hit the oar I was working on one last time before looking up at him and nodding. He looked up at the railing, where Piper was waiting patiently. "Try it now!"

A few moments later the oars started moving at a rapid, concerning speed, and in an odd, wave-like way. I wasn't sure if that was  _supposed_  to happen, but with a yelp, dropping my hammer, I leapt up, grabbing hold of one of the ropes that held up my swing right before the oars absolutely destroyed it, easily snapping the rope. Despite now hanging over oars that could grind me into a pulp, I got off lucky. I looked over at Hedge just in time to see him slip, one of the oars whacking him in the rear. He went flying and screaming, right into the water. I'd have to be pulled up soon, though, because like climbing cliff-faces, my chronic pain made it near impossible to hold onto the rope like I was.

I sighed and looked up at Piper, opening my mouth to tell her to pull me up. Before I could however, she met my eyes, her eyes flashing with concern, before she ran over to the level. The ropes started moving. Once I got to the railing, I carefully climbed over. Piper was right at my side, which I thought was odd. Her expression was still concerned, despite me being out of any immediate danger.

"What's wrong?" I asked, reaching for my sword.

"You're crying again," she commented.

You'd think after hearing it so many times I'd get used to it, but I wasn't. Instinctively, I reached up to brush under one of my eyes. As in the past, my fingers were completely dry. Then the sharp pain hit my chest and I gasped, not used to  _that_  part of my blackouts. Then came that weird dizziness and lightheadedness. I stumbled into the railing, sinking to the deck. Piper was at my side, but I was unsure if she was talking.

Slowly, blackness encroached my vision. When I opened my eyes again, I was on Mount Olympus, in the ruined throne room.

I think the biggest thing I couldn't get over about these visions was the fact that I was watching  _myself_  go through these flashbacks. It was so odd to just…see myself outside of my body. But to see everything I'd gone through from a third-person perspective was dizzying in its own right.

Right now I was looking at the aftermath of Luke sacrificing himself and hitting his Achilles' heel. We were sitting around his charred, blackened body. I watched as he addressed each one of us in turn, when I took him into my lap, when I comforted him in his last breaths.

I blinked and felt tears stream down my face. As if I hadn't lived through this moment enough already.

Hearing myself scream from a removed state was more painful than I thought it would've been. But at the time, I had been so caught up in that initial grief and pain, I hadn't even realized it'd been me screaming until after the fact. Here, though…here I wasn't drowning. And the cry of agony that ripped through me when I'd realized all I had just lost was enough to wrench my chest open and bring me to my knees.

I fell forward, just barely able to catch myself.

"Please," I sobbed, bowing my head, tears flowing freely. "Please, stop. Why are you doing this?"

A warm breeze blew through the throne room. With a gasp, my eyes snapped open and I sat back. I was back in Salona. Cupid was nowhere to be seen, but I had a feeling he'd been waiting for this moment.

Anger surged through me, burning through my sadness. I stood, looking around for him, for any sign he might be here,  _mocking_ me.

"Show yourself!" I shouted at the ruins. "Coward!"

Something hit my cheek, sending me sprawling. Pain echoed through my jaw and my head. My prickle's flared. I blinked, trying to push away the pain and the pin-pricks, but saw nothing around me.

_Coward?_  Cupid asked, his voice low.  _You_ dare _call me a coward._  Something struck my face again, sending me to my back. My nose and eye were now pulsing with pain. I swore I'd heard something crack.

_Yet you are the one who continues to run,_  Cupid said as I struggled to my feet, only to be sucker-punched right in the gut as I did so, bringing me to my knees again. I gasped for breath as Cupid continued,  _I_ told _you that day in Salona that Love_ demands _the truth!_

Another strike. This time to my ribs. I gasped as I felt some of them give way, my body flying several yards before colliding with the mossy-stone ground. The moss softened my landing somewhat, but as I tried to get to my feet again, my arm came up to cradle my torso, feeling those broken ribs moving in my chest cavity. It was a miracle they hadn't punctured a lung or outright killed me by piercing my heart.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I shouted, trying to stay alert for another attack, but the pain from my wounds was getting to me. Not to mention it was aggravating my chronic pain in the worse way possible.

_I have been showing you for days now! How can you not understand!_

I was standing now, but leaning heavily to my right, where my broken ribs were. "Maybe because you're being just as vague as all the other fucking gods!" I yelled angrily. Was he really so daft?

The breeze that'd been rustling the trees' leaves stopped abruptly. Something I hadn't noticed it'd been doing until the moment it'd stopped. I thought for sure I was done for now. He was fed up with my comments and this game, and now he was going to kill me.

I braced for impact, my breathing ragged and painful.

_You have not let go of Luke,_  Cupid said in one of the softer tones I'd ever heard him use.

I opened my eyes, and let out a breath of relief at not being killed.

"Of course I have," I gasped, sinking to my knees. Tears formed in my eyes. A new pain blossomed in my chest. A pain I hadn't felt in a long time—that hollowness that always threatened to engulf me whenever Luke was mentioned. My demons rattled their cage, growing in size. I shook my head, tears leaking from the corners of my eyes. "No, don't…don't give this back to me."

_It was never gone, Victoria Williams,_  Cupid replied. He sounded closer than before. That _is what I have been trying to tell you._

I sunk even lower, ignoring the sharp pain in my chest. More tears falling from my eyes. "No…" I sobbed.

_You must know that that life with Luke and your daughter was all in invention of Gaea._

"I do!" I snapped. "I do know! That doesn't have anything to do with—" I broke off as I remembered that dream she'd sent me. Had I really been deluding myself all this time? Luke had seemed…strange in that dream. I mean, the whole dream was strange. But…he would  _never_  say he didn't  _care_  about the gods. Even after his sacrifice, he probably still hated them. He just knew, like I did, they were better than any other alternative.

But he would never be indifferent to them.

Letting him go…I had let go of a memory of him. Almost like those shades Nico had told me about. Except, instead of being entirely one strong, negative emotion, his feeling about the gods had been completely cut out of him.

Not my memory of him…Gaea's interpretation of what she  _thought_  was my memory of him.

Could the feeling of my grief and the silencing of my demons have really all been…an  _illusion_? Concocted by Gaea? Did she really have that kind of power?

The familiar pain in my chest and rattle of my demons' cage told me yes. Yes, she really  _was_  that powerful.

"But I thought—" I blinked in shock, trying to process all of this, more tears streaming down my face. I saw the dream she'd given me, and then the throne room. My own screams echoed in my ears. Gritting my teeth, I shook my head. I didn't want to believe it!

Something suddenly grabbed my neck, lifting me easily off the ground.

_You still hide from the truth!_  Cupid spat. _And I can_ only _help you if you accept and move on! Face the truth!_

I held the invisible hand that was holding my throat. Not to the point he was cutting off my airways. Yet.

"Why give us the scepter then, huh?" I growled.

Cupid's hand tightened around my throat.  _Because_ your _truth is not about the scepter._

"Then what—?" I tried, but Cupid's hand closed even tighter, completely cutting off my airways.

I still couldn't see Cupid, but I glared at what I thought was his face, tired of being thrown around and handled like a ragdoll. Also, now I was seriously in danger of being strangle to death (yay). A new rush of adrenaline and endorphins flooded through me. I summoned the powers of my rune and the sun, pressing my palm to his skin and setting fire.

With a cry of pain, he let me go. I just barely managed to catch myself, more sharp pains blossoming in my chest. My chronic pain burst, taking up all my concentration as I tried to push them away for a solid minute.

_You_ must _really let go of him this time!_  Cupid's voice shouted, but it sounded distant.

There was a whoosh of wind before an arrow came hurtling at me. Still feeling the energy and warmth of the sun pulsing in my veins, I moved the rays to set fire to the arrow before it could get to me.

"Let go!" I shouted, as Cupid kept shooting arrows at me. But I continued to set them aflame. "You mean like how Apollo let go of Daphne? Orpheus of Eurydice? You're  _wife_ , Psyche, and  _you_." I walked forward, forcing him back. " _You_  hit them with your arrows. You forced Apollo to chase after Daphne relentlessly, until she had enough and sacrificed her life, her freedom, to get away from him. Orpheus went to  _hell_  for Eurydice! He made the Lord of the Underworld weep. For  _her_. Psyche slogged through  _hell_ , she suffered all that  _pain_  and  _humiliation_.  _For you_.  _You_  cannot tell  _me_  to let him go!"

The arrows ceased. I kept my sense open to another attack, nonetheless.

_That is not the same thing,_  Cupid said, his voice deadly quiet.  _You hold on to your anger toward Apollo for your mother's death. You hold on to your resentment toward Dionysus for your punishment. And you hold on to your grief for Luke. Your memories of him, of his love for you, are tainted with grief. Unless you let go of that grief, I cannot help you._

"Who says I want your help?" The adrenaline and endorphins were starting to wear off. The pounding, pulsing pain from my wounds, and the needle-pricks from my chronic pain were coming back full-force. Could I pass out if I'd already passed out?

_I am not asking you to let go in the way you think I am,_  Cupid finally said, his voice now soft again.

As the fight left me, I fell to my knees again. I raised my gaze to the sky and closed my eyes. The healing I'd felt…the healing I thought I'd gone through…had all been fake?

Tears filled my eyes as my mind flooded with memories of Luke. From the first time I'd looked into his eyes, to the last time…and I watched as the light and life from within them faded.

I threw my head forward, into my hands and sobbed. It hurt my broken ribs, every breath like knives were being driven into my side, but I couldn't stop them. I couldn't stop the hole from slowly consuming me, nor could I stop the demons that roared in their cage, now reminding me of my time in Tartarus.

I felt a hand rest of my shoulder. Startled, I lifted my head from my hands only to lock eyes with the reddest eyes I'd ever seen.

"Take heed," Cupid said. "Love is very demanding, but once you have given what it asks, in return, it will heal you. Do not despair so much. Not all of that healing was entirely Gaea, I assure you." Gently, he put his hands under my aloft wrists and we stood together. I winced as my ribs shifted—I mean everything still hurt—but tried to keep upright.

"You're cruel," I commented. "Love shouldn't have to be that way."

Cupid smirked, chuckling. His eyes seemed more sinister as he said, "But it is. You know this. Remember when you were here with Jason Grace and Nico di Angelo?"

"It's too much," I echoed hollowly.

"And not enough." Cupid nodded.

I started to pull away, realizing his hands were still resting under my wrists, but he grasped them then. Before I could react, he jerked me forward, coming close enough to whisper in my ear.

"Be warned, she is cunning and clever, and  _always_  gets her way. Do not trust the gift she promises. And if you must make a deal with her, know that you will  _always_  lose." I felt him slip something into my hand and close my fist around it. Then, he dissolved into gold and red, and was blown away by a summer breeze.

My head was spinning at his words. With shaking hands and a pounding heart, which was  _not_  helping any of my wounds, I un-crumpled the paper he'd given me.

_Mother Earth loves games, however, and if you can gain an advantage, you may be able to save something yet._

At the bottom:

_Burn this._

Looking around, a chill running down my spine, I quickly summoned the heat of the sun and used my rune to set the paper on fire. I watched as it slowly turned to ash, and was carried away by the wind.

I blinked and when I opened my eyes again, I was lying on a cot in the sickbay. The crew, minus Jason, surrounded me. I tried to sit up, but pain blazed through my side. When I gritted my teeth on a cry, more pain bloomed in my cheek, nose, and eye. My left hand went to cradle my side, and I whimpered.

"Hold still," Frank said. "You took quite a beating."

I nodded, sinking back into the cot, realizing I'd sustained  _real_  wounds from Cupid.

"You're going to have to drink some nectar if you want to heal fast enough to continue this journey," Nico said.

I sighed, closing my eyes, but nodding. I heard shuffling of feet, and opening and closing of cupboards. I kept my eyes closed as someone poured nectar down my throat. I blinked, opening my eyes again. Mercifully, the stabbing pain in my side subsided, the burning pain in my face also faded. I let out a shaky breath, trying not to focus on the fact that my chronic pain was horribly quiet.

Everything that'd happened came rushing back to me, now that my brain had the capacity to think about it. The hole in my chest was back. My demons howled and screeched. Tears flooded my eyes as I laid there. Audrey II was curled up on my right side, and I found comfort in her warmth and familiarity.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nico asked softly, probably seeing how distressed I looked.

I swallowed hard and shook my head. But more tears filled my eyes and I could feel my throat building up with sobs.

Nico looked at the others. "Maybe we should give her some space."

They all nodded and quietly exited the sickbay. Nico stayed. He pulled up a chair next to my cot and held out his hand. A small sob escaped my lips as I took his offered hand, my free one going up to cover my eyes as I started weeping, quietly, but uncontrollably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wasn't expecting to be able to write and post, but here we are! I mean, don't get used to it, my semester is only just beginning, so. But I have not hit a writer's block thus far *knock on wood* and so, will write when I can, and post when I can.
> 
> Some things to note: Just imagine that the conversation Jason and Nico had while Jason was waiting for an audience with the South Wind went a little differently, and perhaps a little less hostile on Nico's part.
> 
> Also, the quote I used in the last chapter, and mentioned in this chapter, is from the play _Nuts_ , by Tom Topper. I haven't actually read or seen the whole thing, I only know of one of the bigger monologues within that I watched a classmate in my Acting class did. (It was so good, she was a much better actor than I am XP)
> 
> I hope the conversation with Jason seemed…okay. I mean, I want it to be awkward, because, like, they're still awkward around each other, but at the same time, I don't want it to seem too awkward, because then it borders on OOC, ya know? (Can I get a run-on sentence for 500, Alex?)
> 
> Oh, and hey, [lucifersfavoritechild](http://archiveofourown.org/users/lucifersfavoritechild/pseuds/lucifersfavoritechild) just came out with an _awesome_ , EPIC addition the Colors AU she's created! Ya'll should def go check it out! → [Colors III](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13337163/chapters/30532023)
> 
> Title and a bit of that stuff in the ending that Cupid is warning Tori of is inspired by _Coraline_ , specifically the Other Mother in _Coraline_. I'll just leave with that for now ;)
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much, _much_ appreciated! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	41. And No One Can Hear

"I really  _don't_  want to talk about it," I reiterated again, as I leaned against the back wall of the stables on the  _Argo II_. I had come down here when the grief had overwhelmed me, and I couldn't take it any longer. We were stuck below decks as the  _Argo II_  was pulled across the sea by southern  _venti_  that Jason was steering? Guiding? The point was, Jason had finally gotten through to Notus, who then lent his  _venti_  to help us get to where we needed to go.

Anyway, I'd just finished crying my eyes out and now just wanted to sleep for the rest of this trip (I'd get cabin fever before we made it if I didn't). Not only that, but my chronic pain was acting up. I'd stood and looked up, only to see Nico standing in the doorway, and felt overwhelming exhaustion hit me so hard my knees buckled.

"You don't have to talk, but I think you forgot I  _am_  here for you, you know," Nico said, slipping inside the stables and closing the door.

I sighed, and sat back down on the floor, leaning my head back. Audrey II was snoozing in a small pile of hay I'd constructed for her outside the stall closest to me. "I know. I just—"

Nico approached slowly, before coming to sit down next to me, resting the scepter next to his outstretched leg. We sat in silence and listened to the  _Argo II_  as it was pulled along the water for I don't know how long. Sometimes I regretted leaving my watch in Tartarus, but I knew that if I'd kept it, I would've actually gone mad.

I may have dozed. It was pretty warm in the stables, and the monotonous sound of the ship on the water was lulling me into sleep.

"What did you mean?" Nico started, pulling me from my half-awake state. I blinked away sleep and shifted, sitting up straighter, looking over at Nico. He kept his eyes forward, on the glass-bottom. "By what you said in Salona. That...love is…" Nico shook his head, pressing his lips together, like he couldn't get himself to say the rest.

I rested my head back against the hull again. "It's hard to explain," I murmured. "It's really more of a feeling. But I think you know the feeling. It's overwhelming. Sometimes you wonder how you could love someone so much. Especially if they've done something terrible. Unforgivable in others' eyes. And then you wonder how your love wasn't enough to save them."

Looking down, I brought my knees to my chest, resting my chin on my knees, wrapping my arms around my legs.

"I thought I'd…handled my grief," I said, tears welling up in my eyes. I was annoyed. Hadn't I cried enough already? I should've been dehydrated by now. How was my body coming up with so much tears? My throat started closing up as more tears formed in my eyes. "But I was wrong." I managed to spit out. "He wanted me to  _let go_. But not in the way I think. As if I could let Luke go in…any way."

Nico sighed. "He's right, though. I'm not saying it's easy. Or that it'll just happen overnight, but…" He trailed off and leaned back, raising his gaze to the light in the middle of the stables. It flickered ominously, but I simply watched as Nico toyed with it, wondering how he was doing it. Some kind of shadow magic? "When I found out Bianca had chosen to be reborn before I could…find her, it kind of forced me to let go. I'll always miss her. And, on some level, her death will always be painful. Some of my grief will always be there. But it's different. It… _feels_  different. Lighter."

I snickered at his choice of words. Nico smiled, whether it was a reaction to my reaction, or to his joke, I didn't know. He stopped messing with the light and looked over at me.

"Cupid's not asking you to completely push Luke out of your memories—let go of your love for him," Nico continued. "You're grieving, and that's expected. But eventually, you have to learn to come to terms with your grief, and let it go. You'll always have your memories. No one can take that from you."

"I don't know, I just…don't understand," I finally admitted, pulling out of my little ball and wiping away my leftover tears, still sitting in my eyes. I thought about what Cupid had said: my anger toward Apollo and my resentment toward Mr. D. "I guess I was never one to let go so easily. I don't know how."

"Maybe Rowan can give you a starting point."

* * *

I thought it would be harder to get hold of Rowan, but I managed it. (The stress of it, though, had my chronic pain bursting to an annoying level.) To be fair, I'd caught them with their morning coffee (because it was about 6am over there). They didn't seem too upset about it, and I asked them if they would humor me and have a quick session with me. Not just because neither of us had a lot of time, but also because the IM connection could cut out at any second.

When they'd agreed to fifteen minutes, I relayed what'd happened in Salona, editing certain things out, barely taking a breath so Rowan would have something to go off of. I shifted nervously on my cot in the infirmary as Rowan thought, looking at something I couldn't see, sipping their coffee.

"There's something I keep coming back to," they finally said, setting their cup down on the table. "I was going to bring it up when we finally got to Luke's death, but that point never came, obviously. We have worked on your other friends' and siblings' deaths, but I think it's different and worse when it comes to Luke." Rowan paused and I waited, afraid if moved I'd make some kind of noise and miss what they were going to say next.

Rowan met my eyes, and I'd forgotten how solemn they could be. "Guilt."

"But we've—" I started. Rowan held up their hand, keeping my gaze.

"It's different with Luke. He is the root of your guilt, how responsible you feel for his and the others' deaths." Rowan sat forward. "Your guilt, the others' deaths, boils down to the decision you made—that you would stay with him because he asked you to, rather than sacrificing yourself to Kronos, and thus, the events that led to all those deaths wouldn't have even happened in the first place."

Rowan's eyes softened, their eyebrows furrowing. "I wish I could work through this with you, Tori, I really do, but I have clients I need to see today."

I blinked and a tear slid down my cheek. My chest felt like it was constricting. "Of course," I managed. "Thank you for taking the time this morning."

Rowan nodded, giving me a sad smile before swiping their hand through the IM. I sat back, more tears flooding my eyes. Audrey II made small growling noises, and shifted in my lap, rubbing her head against my loose arms around her.

I'd known this on some level ever since the first casualty in the war against Kronos. Many lives could have been saved, many deaths prevented if I had just died. It was such a simple thing, such a simple choice. And yet, I had failed at it. I had…opted to stay with Luke. I hadn't even tried to save him, or even stop him, after a while. I had fallen into a role by his side,  _helped_  the titan lord.

I felt the ship lurch, or maybe it was me. My stomach rolled, the ringing in my ears grew louder, and my head felt like it might float away. All the deaths I could have prevented slammed into me, full-force. It was like being hit with another one of Cupid's damned arrows, making me see that what I'd worked through had also been a lie. Though, that wasn't fair to Rowan.

I could feel the difference between their deaths, and Luke's when Gaea had led me to believe I'd magically worked through his. It felt less painful, less heavy, less overwhelming. It was some small comfort, to know that I still kept my progress. But that didn't help the guilt that was currently flowing over me, threatening to drown me.

Someone came in to the infirmary, and started speaking, breaking me from whatever I'd fallen into. The ringing stopped, the dizziness and nausea vanished so fast, it took me a moment to gather my bearings.

I was still sitting on the cot in the infirmary, Audrey II was sitting in my lap, gazing up at me with what I could only comprehend as concerned eyes. Nico was standing in the doorway, eyebrows furrowed.

"We're…we've arrived," Nico said, gesturing to the hallway and looking back at the stairs that lead to the upper levels. I blinked and remembered that his sister had been killed on a mission to rescue Artemis. And the only reason that mission had existed was because of…Luke. "Are you okay?" Nico was looking at me again, and took a step in. I stood as he stepped in, making sure to keep Audrey II in my arms.

"Fine," I answered, going over to the cabinet across the room to take some pain meds. "Where have we arrived?"

"Uh…not sure, but Leo's here—are you sure you're all right?" Nico asked as I slipped past him and headed straight for the stairs.

"I'm fine," I reiterated in a snappy tone, feeling bad, but also I was afraid that if Nico ever thought about it hard enough, he'd blame me for his sister's death. I didn't want to lose what friendship we'd developed. At least, I needed time to build up my walls for when he did, eventually, figure it out. Because knowing my luck, he would.

* * *

Leo was on an island, the coastline brimming with docks and boats in those docks. From the shoreline rose seawalls that made me think of fortifications. They had to be 15, maybe 20 stories high. Upon those fortifications lay a city. Church spires and domes shot out into the air, alongside tightly wedged buildings, all made of golden stone. As far as I could tell, the city was basically the island (or was it vice versa?).

I couldn't take Audrey II. I knew the Mist would do its work, but I was afraid wherever Leo was sitting might not allow pets. It was hard to convince her to let me go, ever since that incident in Salona, she stayed dutifully by my side. (I think she was also put out that I was taking my backpack, but not her.) Thankfully, Festus chimed in and said something that convinced her to let me go. I promised her I'd be back soon. She snorted at me and went to pout on the helm.

Leo sat at the top of the city fortifications, in an open-air café, overlooking the ocean, drinking a cup of coffee. He was wearing what I vaguely recalled as the outfit he'd been wearing when he first arrived at CHB. Then I realized I hadn't seen him wear it since his quest to rescue Hera—er, Juno, and wondered where it'd gone. And how had he gotten it back?

Piper was the first to greet him, nearly knocking them both backward when she went into for a tackle-hug (it really looked more like a tackle, though). "Leo! Gods, where have you been?"

"Valdez!" Hedge said with a big grin. Then he blinked, remembering that he didn't like any of us and forced his lips into a scowl, though I could tell he  _was_  upset. "You ever disappear like that again, you little punk, I'll knock you into next month!"

One by one, they all greeted him: Frank patted him on the back so hard Leo almost did a face plant into his coffee cup (ouch). Nico shook his hand, which shocked me. Hazel kissed his cheek.

"We thought you were dead." She sounded so relieved. I glanced at Frank and saw him scowl, and wondered what that was about.

Leo smiled, but it was smaller than his usual and the mischief in his eyes that reminded me of Luke was completely gone, like someone had snuffed it out. That worried me.

"Hey, guys. Nah, nah, I'm good." His voice even lacked the energy I was used to. Something was seriously wrong, something had happened while he'd been gone.

I crossed my arms, and smirked at him. "Hey," I said just as he took a sip of his coffee. Perfect. "'Hot stuff.'" Leo did a spit take, thankfully missing his friends. He looked at me with wide eyes, blood flooding into his face. Some of the crew  _did not_  get it, but Hazel's eyes sparkled with amusement.

Stammering and coughing, he reached for a napkin to wipe his face and mop up the coffee on the table. Finally, he looked back at me. "I-I…I thought you said I was too young for you!"

I snorted, pulling up a chair, but putting the back against the table and straddled it, resting my arms on the top of the back. "You  _are_  too young for me." My eyes flickered to Hazel and we shared a grin. I looked back at Leo. "Hazel told me about the beginning of your little adventure to Europe, and how you faced Narcissus."

Leo looked accusingly at Hazel, but I could tell it was in jest. "Hazel! How could you?"

Hazel rolled her eyes and shoved him gently. "Everyone knew already. It's not like it was some big secret."

Before Leo could respond, the rest of the crew decided to grab some chairs too. I saw Jason exchange a few hushed words with Leo, but pretended not to notice. I thought about the look Leo had on when we'd first arrived. He'd been so still—something I didn't associate with him. Leo's hands had always been moving, his body always rocking or pacing. I wish I could pinpoint why the sudden change, though. It was like a switch had been switched.

"I got marooned," Leo explained after everyone had gotten settled. "Long story." He shrugged. "How about you guys? What happened with Khione?"

Hedge started to write his own kung fu movie, with Piper and Khione as the stars, but Piper mercifully interrupted.

"It didn't happen like that at all," she said. "I couldn't have done  _anything_  without Festus."

That got Leo's attention. "But Festus was deactivated."

"Um, about that…" Piper grinned. "I sort of woke him up." She then explained what'd happened between her and the North Winds, and how she'd woken Festus up with charmspeak. (Sometimes I really did hate that we lived in such a mythical, magical world, because logic didn't have a place here.) I noticed Leo start to tap his fingers on the table as Piper spoke, which was encouraging.

"Shouldn't be possible," he muttered, which were my thoughts exactly. "Unless the upgrades let him respond to voice commands. But if he's permanently activated, that means the navigation system and the crystal…"

"Crystal?" Jason asked.

Leo flinched. "Um, nothing. Anyway, what happened after the wind bomb went off?"

There was a short pause and some eyes flickered to me, but I didn't feel like talking, so Hazel took up the story. At some point, a waitress came by and offered us menus, and soon we were enjoying a nice lunch on some small island in the middle of the ocean. I was glad this café was open-air, because I was enjoying the warmth of the sun (it helped my chronic pain, too, though I also had my bottle of pain meds if I needed them; hence why I took my backpack with me).

I almost felt normal again, like a regular mortal.

As Hazel recounted the rest of the story to Leo, Frank took a tourist brochure from underneath the napkin dispenser at our table and began to read it. Piper kept patting Leo's arm, like she was afraid he might disappear at any moment. Nico had stayed standing, and was nearly glaring at the pedestrians as they walked past, like he was afraid they'd jump us. (I couldn't blame him.) Hedge was chowing down on the salt and pepper shakers.

I plucked a grape from my plate and threw it at Nico. Despite my worries, that kid looked like he was withering away, and my concern for him was stronger than my fear I'd lose him as a friend (right now, anyway). He jumped, and glared at me when he realized what I'd done. I took half my sandwich and held it out for him.

"Here, you should eat. Even if it's a bite or two."

Nico eyed my sandwich warily. "Um, no thanks—"

I smiled without humor, which caused him to break off.

"I insist," I said to punctuate my smile. Nico eyed my sandwich again before hesitantly taking it.

Giving me a small nod and tentative smile, he mumbled, "Thanks."

I grinned. "Of course."

Hazel was just finishing up the story when I turned to face the table again. "So then Jason harnessed the  _venti_ , and here we are."

Leo whistled. "Hot-air horses? Dang, Jason. So basically, you held a bunch of gas together all the way to Malta, and then you let it loose." Oh, so we were in Malta. Too bad I didn't know that Malta even existed until now.

I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Leo to make a trial sound so ridiculous. Jason didn't like it very much.

"You know, it doesn't sound so heroic when you put it that way."

"Yeah, well. I'm an expert on hot air. I'm still wondering, why Malta? I just kind of ended up here on the raft, but was that a random thing, or—"

"Maybe because of this." Frank waved his brochure. "Says here, Malta was where Calypso lived."

Leo jolted like he'd been shocked, and all the blood drained from his face. "W-what now?"

Frank didn't seem to notice and shrugged. "According to this, her original home was an island called Gozo, just north of here. Calypso's a Greek myth thingie, right?"

"Ah, a Greek myth thingie!" Hedge exclaimed, rubbing his hands together, getting that grin that said he was ready to lock and load the ballistae. "Maybe we get to fight her! Do we get to fight her? 'Cause I'm ready."

I sighed. "Calypso is the daughter of Atlas, Hedge," I explained. "She's a sorceress, sentenced on an invisible, enchanted island because she sided with the Titans in the First Titan War." I frowned, thinking about my punishment, then, because it'd been related to Percy's request of the gods.

When I realized it was silent, I blinked my thoughts away. They were all staring at me, except for Nico who was still nibbling on the half sandwich I'd given him, which I was actually glad to see.

"What? You learn a lot of things when—" I broke off realizing that I was about to say,  _You learn a lot of things when you work for Kronos._  Yeah, like that would go over well with them. It  _was_  true, though. I knew that Percy had landed on that island after he'd made Mount Saint Helens erupt because I'd been with Luke, and Kronos's army at the time. They knew…almost everything that went on. I remember Luke hoping that Percy would get stuck on the island, but also explaining to me that it was enchanted so that Calypso couldn't help but fall in love with the people who ended up there. Once she did, they were granted freedom from the island if they chose. Another part of her punishment—ones who would never stay.

"Never mind," I sighed, looking away.

"Leo, what's wrong?" Piper asked, mercifully taking the attention from me. "You look—"

Leo rose. "We should get going, anyway. We've got work to do!"

"But…where did you go?" Hazel asked, looking up at him. "Where did you get those clothes? How—"

"Jeez, ladies," Leo shifted uncomfortably, forcing a grin. "I appreciate the concern, but I don't need two extra moms!" I didn't think now would've been a good time to tell him it was too late for me—I already felt like a mom to…well to this whole group, actually (yeah, even Jason). Even if I wasn't  _that_  much older than them.

Piper tried for a smile. "Okay, but—"

"Ships to fix!" Leo interrupted again, stepping around his chair and around the table. "Festus to check! Earth goddesses to punch in the face! What are we waiting for? Leo's back!" He spread his arms, that painful grin still on his face. I felt so bad for him. Clearly something had happened and weighing on his mind. I just wished he'd let us in.

Jason stood and went over to Leo, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "Leo's right. We should get going."

The others started to pack up their leftover lunches. I returned my chair.

Hazel gasped and I reached for my sword, but paused when I didn't see any immediate threats. My hand stayed on my hilt, though.

"Guys…" Hazel pointed to the horizon behind me. I was confused to what she wanted us to see, but then darkness flashed into the air, like lightning. The blackness reminded me of Asterius—like a black hole, so deep and dark and cold.

"I don't see anything," Hedge muttered.

"Me neither," Piper added, shaking her head. I glanced around and realized that most of them weren't seeing anything, which I thought was strange. Only Nico, Jason, Hazel, and I seemed to be the ones seeing the lightning. (That only left me with more questions.)

"That can't be," Nico murmured. "Greece is still hundreds of miles away."

The lightning flashed again. Was it just me or had it grown slightly in size?

"You think it's Epirus?" Jason asked, sounding stricken.

"The House of Hades is open for business," Nico said. I shuddered at my memories of that place. Would I be able to down there again to help them?

It was silent after Nico's declaration. Then a rumbling sound came from the distance, and it reminded me too much of Gaea. My jaw clenched, hand tightening on my sword as chills shot up my spine. We were close.  _It_  was close.

"It's begun," Hazel whispered, like she was reciting a prophecy, only confirming my fears.

"What has?" Leo asked.

"Gaea's final push." Hazel's voice had lowered and hardened. "The Doors of Death are working overtime. Her forces are entering the mortal world en masse."

"We'll never make it." Nico sounded defeated and I could empathize. Would they need me with them when they went into the House of Hades? I'd promised to help lead them to it, not take them through it. But it also seemed unfair to leave them when they could use another fighter. "By the time we arrive, they'll be too many monsters to fight."

"We'll defeat them," Jason assured. "And we'll make it there fast. We've got Leo back. He'll give us the speed we need." I turned to look back at Leo as everyone else did. Jason grinned. "Or is that just hot air?"

Leo grinned back, his eyes lighting up with that old mischief again (though still more subdued). "Time to fly, kids," he said. "Uncle Leo's got a few tricks up his sleeves!"

* * *

Okay, so I'm not proud of it, but I definitely continued to avoid Nico as much as humanly possible while we were working on repairs for the ship. With Leo back, we were much more efficient and quick. Not only that, but despite Leo's usual enthusiasm being dampened, the mere fact that we'd found Leo and he was back with the crew really rejuvenated our spirits. Especially since they were about to head back into the House of Hades and battle hordes of monsters. (I was still debating on whether or not I'd be able to make it.)

Nico obviously noticed, and the more I made up an excuse to avoid talking with him, the more agitated he got. I went down to the stables for my late afternoon sulk, during a quick break from repairs. I should've known that's when Nico would corner me, but I was exhausted and my chronic pain was acting up, so I hadn't even thought about it. I'd taken three pain meds, set Audrey II down in her little hay bed when we'd gotten in, and then sat at the very back, against the hull.

I may have fallen asleep. But the sound of the stable doors opening caught my attention. I was on my feet, sword drawn without even thinking about it. Nico stood in the doorway, half-in and half-out like he was debating whether or not he was going to confront me.

When I registered it was him, I sheathed my sword.

"I need to go," I mumbled, going over to Audrey II, hoping I'd be able to slip past him, even though he was currently standing in the only exit.

"It's about Bianca, isn't it?" Nico's voice was quiet, and I couldn't tell in what way, which only unnerved me more than if I knew if he was hurt, or if he was angry.

I froze half-way bent over, but slowly straightened up not wanting to look over at Nico and confirm my fears.

When I didn't answer, Nico stepped inside and closed the door. The light above us flickered. I wondered if he ever was scary on purpose or if the things he did were just his personality, and unintentionally scary.

"I'm not angry," Nico finally said. The light stopped flickering and I turned toward him in shock. He looked upset, rightfully so, and hurt. But I didn't detect any anger. "I've thought about it for a long time. I'm going to be honest, for a long time, I did blame you. And Percy." Nico looked away, his jaw clenching, hands balling into fists. "And it still hurts. It will always hurt." He looked back at me. "I think you know that. Some part of you will never truly heal, even with time."

I nodded, unable to say anything.

"But I forgive you," Nico continued, his hands unfurling. "And I think it's time you start to forgive yourself."

"But I—!" I started, taking a step toward him. Of all things, anger welled up in my chest. He didn't understand!

" _Tori_ ," Nico said in the coldest voice I'd ever heard him use with me. I closed my mouth and stared at him, my heart fluttering in my ribcage. My hands twitched, wanting to grab my sword, but I knew Nico wasn't a threat to me. Nico's eyes softened, the corner of his lip curling up into a crooked smile. "Do you want me to be nice, or honest?"

I couldn't help the answering smile from pulling at my lips at his callback. I took a deep breath. "Honest."

"You have to stop taking the burden of guilt on yourself," Nico said, taking a few steps further into the stable. "I know that you want to think that Luke is…" Nico frowned, struggling for a way to finish that sentence. I didn't offer anything for him because I didn't know myself. "I know that you want to defend Luke because you love him," he finally said. "But that's not your job. It's time that you accept that he made some really bad choices that inadvertently killed a lot of innocent people."

"But he was—" I tried, my chest heaving, hearing my own desperation in my voice. Tears pricked my eyes. The pain meds were either wearing off, or the stress of all this was making the prickles flare, but either way they were roaring at a level where it became difficult to push them aside.

"I know, he was under the influence of Kronos." Nico nodded. "But he still made those decisions, on some level. It's not entirely his fault, but it's not entirely yours, either."

"He only did—" I broke off this time, tears streaming down my cheeks. My knees felt weak, but I didn't want to sit. "For me." I managed, a sob escaping right after.

"That doesn't mean it's your fault," Nico murmured, coming closer to me. "Luke made that decision—he asked you to stay with him."

"I still complied!" I gasped. "I still feel responsible."

"But do you feel wholly responsible, or partly responsible?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but closed it again when I couldn't find the words. I guess some part of me did feel wholly responsible. I reasoned that because I was the only reason—my living—Luke remained as Kronos's pawn, I was responsible for all the deaths that could have been avoided.

"You can't place all the blame on yourself," Nico said, breaking me from my thoughts. He was now standing just a few feet away from me. My tears had slowed. "We've all done shitty things, made shitty decisions. You don't know if the events would have still played out the same way or not if you  _hadn't_  fallen in love with Luke, so there's no point in dwelling on them. Believe me.

"You have to be here, with  _us_ , because there is another war coming, and we need all the help we can get. Maybe you couldn't make a difference then, but you can make a difference now."

I almost laughed. If only he knew.

"I can't just…let go," I whispered.

Nico shook his head. "You can still learn from the past, but there's a difference between learning from it and holding on to it." He paused and let me contemplate his words for a moment. "If I can forgive you, if Beckendorf can forgive you, then you can forgive yourself. You're allowed to be nice to yourself. Especially since life isn't particularly kind to you."

I snorted and wiped away my remaining tears. I let out a big breath. The pin-pricks dimmed slightly. "Thanks, Nico." Of course Rowan had been right. It seemed so simple, the way Nico had put it. Obviously, it wasn't, but if I could just separate those two aspects of my past, I may just be able to begin healing (again).

Nico smiled. "Of course." Then he stepped closer, holding out his hand. I was a little shocked at this gesture but took it. "Look," he started, looking suddenly apprehensive. I braced myself for whatever he was going to say next. He avoided my gaze, which only worried me even more. "If you ever have a problem with me just…just come talk to me okay?" Nico finally met my eyes again, and was it just me, or were they pooling with tears. "You're…the only one who can remotely understand what I've been through, and what I'm going through right now." His grip tightened on my hand. "And I really don't want to lose that."

I really should've known Nico would understand, and I felt bad that I had automatically assumed the worse from him.

"May I?" I asked, holding open my other arm. Nico nodded, and I gently pulled him into a hug. He buried his face in my shoulder, and I could feel my shirt dampen, but didn't say anything, only held him closer. It was too reminiscent of when I'd comforted Will—Nico had become like a younger brother to me.

When Nico had finally gotten it out of his system, he pulled away, furiously wiping at the tearstains on his cheeks, not meeting my eyes.

"I, uh…talked to Will recently," he mumbled, playing with the hilt of his sword, keeping his eyes downcast.

I blinked. "What?"

"I apologized to him," Nico told me, glancing up at me. "For the things I said."

"Oh. Did you…?" I trailed off, not sure how to say it without making things worse.

Nico's eyes widened and he finally looked straight at me. "Oh, no, I couldn't. I…" His eyes darkened and he looked away, scowling.

"Hey," I said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. Nico hesitantly looked back at me. I smiled. "Thank you. For apologizing to him." Without really thinking, I moved my hand to the top of his head. He really was like my little brother now.

Nico's face flushed and he indignantly swatted my hand away. "Hey! Don't do that! It makes me feel like a child."

"You  _are_  a child." I corrected, putting my hands on my hips.

Nico sighed, dejectedly. "Come on, we should get back up there and help with the remaining repairs."

* * *

It was late. We hadn't finished all the repairs, but Leo was doing a lot of things with the helm now, which none of us could really help with. We organized shifts, and tried to convince Leo to take a small break, but he refused, stating we were on a time-crunch. It was a good argument, but I could tell there was something more to his wanting—no,  _needing_  to work. I still couldn't exactly pin-point what it was, though.

Even so, I took this opportunity to rest. I'd been thinking all day about what Nico had told me, as well as push away my chronic pain enough to help with repairs, so I was exhausted. I headed below decks to the infirmary after one more assurance from Leo (though, I still wasn't entirely convinced). As usual, I took some pain meds before settling onto my cot.

Audrey II curled up next to me, resting her head on my stomach. I laid back, closed my eyes, and was out cold in less than 30 seconds.

When I opened my eyes, I was expecting Tartarus. What I got was the Apollo cabin back at camp. Sunlight streamed through the windows, providing enough light that our cabin lights weren't needed. It was completely empty, and my footsteps echoed through the room, the wood creaking slightly underfoot as I wandered around the room, went up to one of the beds and ran my hand over the duvet.

I missed my siblings. And that feeling welled up in my chest, so strong, tears flooded my eyes.

It was so reminiscent of—

A breeze blew through the cabin and I spun around with a gasp, coming face-to-face with Gaea.

I looked at her carefully, her sleepy smile still unnerving. Especially because I hadn't seen it in a while. Cupid's warning rang in my ears, and I almost didn't hear her when she started speaking.

"You've been away from the Earth for quite a while." Her voice was soft, but menacing, which was impressive. I'd never gotten used to the way she spoke through vibrations in the earth, and I still wasn't used to it.

"Yeah, well, it's not my fault I'm on a flying trireme specially built to keep away from… _you_." I pointed at her with both hands pressed together before leaning against the bunk bed and crossing my arms. "And, actually, I was in Salona for a little bit. But I'm sure you knew that since you are, apparently, keeping tabs on me."

Gaea started to move around the cabin, in her weird float-walk way. "Yes, I do know. But I couldn't very well contact you then." She turned to face me again. "And blow your cover. I need to… _protect_  my best asset for this coming war." Her voice turned into what I could only liken to a hiss.

I straightened up at the mention of being "her asset." Cupid's words grew louder. Even though I'd only read his note once, those words had been burned into the back of my retinas. I couldn't close my eyes without seeing them.

Noticing my shift, Gaea floated closer. "Getting cold feet? Someone…tell you something? Give you advice?"

"If you knew I was in Salona, then I think you know I met Cupid." I spat his name out, still angry at the god of love for everything he'd done to both Nico and I.

" _And?_ " Gaea prompted. I could tell I was pushing her buttons, and probably wouldn't have made it much farther had she not needed me so much (for…some reason).

I started away from the bed facing away from Gaea briefly. "He's a god, what do you think he said? Obviously, he'd want to cover his ass." I turned to face her again, my hands furling into fists as his words echoed through my head yet again, like those whispers in the ruins. "Although, he did make a  _very_  good point." I stopped there, waiting to see how Gaea would react. Obviously, I wouldn't be able to tell by her body language or her facial expression, but I was optimistic that I'd be able to tell  _something_.

Gaea paused for a long time, her sleepy gaze fixed on me, sending chills down my spine. "And what would that be, little halfling?"

"How do I know you're going to give me what you promised?"

"Now, Victoria—"

"Swear on the Styx," I interrupted. She was either going to kill me in my sleep or agree to my demands. I wondered what consequences gods would face for breaking a swear on the Styx, but now it was too late for that, and all I could do was hope that it was…somewhat the same for gods as it was for mortals. "Swear on the Styx you'll hold up your end of our deal."

I watched Gaea, tense and got ready to evade or defend against any attack, holding my breath. She took a long pause. I couldn't tell if she was thinking or if she was just angry that I was questioning her word.

When the silence had lasted long enough, and I just couldn't take it anymore, I opened my mouth to speak.

Gaea beat me to it, making me jump. "Very well," she said, her voice hard like marble. "I swear on the Styx that I will hold up my end. Now  _you_  must swear that  _you_  will hold up your end—that you will not betray me."

I looked away, my chest tightening. Gaea waited silently, not making any snide or snarky comments like I thought she would. Which could only mean she was really serious about this. She  _really_  thought I could be a powerful asset. And I suppose…after everything that'd happened, after everything I'd done to get where I was now…I was. With the power she promised me, I'd be unstoppable.

I closed my eyes a moment, Cupid's words appearing in my vision, like white chalk on a blackboard:  _Mother Earth loves games._

I was really pushing my luck now, but if Gaea had already swore, maybe she would humor me.

Taking a shaky breath, I opened my eyes again and turned to face Gaea. "I want to know something first," I told her, straightening up and squaring my shoulders.

For a lone time, she stood there, looking at me with those sleepy eyes. The small smile she usually wore was gone. I felt myself tense as the silence lasted, but this time I waited for her to speak.

"And what would that be?" she finally asked in a low, dangerous voice.

"Your plan," I said simply. Underneath me, I felt the earth shake. The cabin groaned and shifted. I tried to keep my hands steady, but my heart was hammering away in my chest. "Look, you either think you need me because I'm  _really_  powerful, or you don't, and I'm not actually as powerful as you've been touting. If you  _really_  need me so bad, then I have the right to know what your plan is."

"You don't hold the cards here," Gaea growled, the earth rumbling more. "I do. I could kill your loved ones oh-so easily."

My hand twitched at her threat, but I tried not to let panic overtake me. I met her sleepy eyes and replied calmly, "Then know that I will  _never_  join you. No matter  _what_  you promised me."

"You already have."

"But I haven't sworn on the Styx. I could just as easily back out as you could kill my loved ones."

Gaea contemplated this for another long, silent moment. The earth stopped shaking, though, so I figured I'd won this round.

"Very well," she said, grudgingly. "I will give you  _only_  the details you need to know: I plan to awaken in Athens. To do so, I will need the blood of a male and female demigod. I would prefer Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase to be sacrifices, however any two demigods will do. Which is where you come in. If, for whatever reason, I cannot have them as sacrifices, you will provide me with the blood I need in order to awaken."

I regarded her carefully. "Sacrifices? Or just blood?"

"Oh, just blood, but it would benefit me if I were able to get rid of two most powerful demigods before this war starts. They are also part of the Seven, and without them, the prophecy falls apart."

"And who would be the male then, if I were to give my blood?"

Gaea paused, and her little smile reappeared. It gave me a bad feeling in my gut (which I figured was why they called it a "gut feeling"—in other news, I still hated that I didn't have my prophetic abilities). Cupid's words rang through my head, yet again:  _Be warned, she is cunning and clever, and_ always _gets her way. Do not trust the gift she promises. And if you must make a deal with her, know that you will_ always _lose._

"You don't need to worry about that at all. So, I have upheld my end and have sworn to give you the power I have promised. Now"—she ghosted toward me, but I stayed where I was, despite how unnerving it was to watch her approach, let her get this close to me—"will you swear on the Styx that you will  _not_  betray me."

I swallowed hard, meeting her sleepy eyes, gritting my teeth. My hands furled into fists again, my nails digging into the palms of my hands.

Cupid  _had_  been right about one thing: I did hang onto my anger toward my father. I did hang onto the hatred I felt toward Mr. D, toward all the gods, toward my punishment. And right now, that's what was fueling me.

I let out a ragged breath, closing my eyes.

 _I'm sorry._  I opened my eyes again, meeting Gaea's sleepy gaze and closed eyes once more.  _I'm so sorry._

"I swear on the Styx."

In the distance, thunder rumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *grins slowly and evilly, like the Grinch*
> 
> As usual, apologies for the wait. Grad School is so tough, guys, wow. Like, don't do it. ~~I'm mostly joking.~~
> 
> It's never really explained why Jason could see the black lightning (maybe because it's…lightning, which would be a stupid reason, lbr), but I had Tori able to see it too, since she'd gone through Tartarus and the House of Hades. I figure that makes enough sense, I guess.
> 
> I hope Nico and Tori's exchange was believable enough. I had something different planned, but as writing does, sometimes when you start to write, the characters direct you where to go.
> 
> Of course, I'll always thank you for sticking with me to the end (of the line), because it means so much to me that you're patient enough to wait. So, thank you. (Though, this isn't quite the end. We've still got a few more chapters to go.)
> 
> There are lot of details I need to work out/through before this next chapter, so it may be a little bit before I can post again. Not to mention I still have to finish out my semester (I'm currently on Spring Break). But I've come up with a plan that may just help me to, at least, write more often than I have been during school, so fingers crossed, knock on wood.
> 
> Finally, the title is taken from the beginning of Rihanna's music video for "We Found Love." I haven't actually ever listened to the song, or watched the music video, but I've seen two really good edits using those beginning lines.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! I would _absolutely love_ to hear what your theories are, regarding that lil' cliff-hanger I gave you ;) So comments are _very_ welcome ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	42. Approach Seeker, and Ask

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> Dialogue from HOH, so bear with me.

"Are you going to come with us?" Nico asked. "Through the House of Hades?"

We were sitting up in the rigging. The ship was speeding toward Epirus. We would be arriving in the next half-hour. I was glad the sun helped with my chronic pain, but that also meant I'd have to remember to take pain meds before we left (if I decided to go) or take a bottle with me.

"I don't know," I replied.

"We could use another fighter."

I sighed. "I know. But I…" I trailed off. Just thinking about everything I'd experienced underground—the Labyrinth, Tartarus, the House of Hades—made my heart rate increase, my breath shaky, and my chronic pain flare. I looked down at the deck, watching Jason chat with Leo and Piper at the helm. "I should talk to Jason before we go.  _If_  I go."

"Yeah?"

"I just want to know where we stand."

"He's hard to read," Nico muttered. I glanced over at him, he was scowling, glaring at Jason.

"Did something happen between you two?"

"It's nothing." His eyes flickered to me, but quickly flickered away. His scowl deepened.

"You can talk to me about anything, you know," I reminded him. Nico didn't respond and continued to look down at the deck. I looked back out at the sky around us. Since we were going to be over land soon, Leo figured it'd be best we be airborne, what with trying to stay away from Gaea and all. I shivered at the reminder of my swear on the Styx. That was it. The wheels were fully in motion, and if I stopped now, a lot of lives could be lost.

"He just doesn't understand," Nico finally said. I looked down at Jason again.

"I get that." I frowned and turned back to Nico. "Is that going to be a problem?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "No, he's… _trying_ , I guess." Nico paused and looked away again, and hunched his shoulders. "Even if it was a problem I made a promise…to Percy."

I didn't know what to say to that and instead reached over to gently squeeze his shoulder. Nico sighed and reached up to touch my hand briefly, but didn't look up. I pulled my hand away and looked back down at Jason, who was still chatting with Leo and Piper.

"I guess I'd better go talk to him," I muttered.

"Yeah, have fun with that," Nico replied.

"You could be the next motivational speaker with a tone like that," I commented.

Nico made a face, cringed, and shot a glare at me. "Don't joke like that." His voice was sharp, but I grinned and stifled a laugh at his reaction, knowing he wasn't being serious. Nico rolled his eyes, but I could see a smile pulling at his lips. "Just go. Before I  _push_  you off."

I gasped in mock horror and said, "Rude." before making my way down to the deck. I  _really_  didn't want to have this conversation, but  _not_  knowing where I stood with Jason was driving me insane. And if we were about to engage in combat against a horde of monsters, I wanted to know if he'd have my back. If he still didn't wholly trust me—whoo, boy, wait until he found out what'd I done, because he would eventually, it was inevitable—it was important I know going into battle.

Trying to calm my racing heart, and the urge to unsheathe my sword, I approached the three teens. It didn't help that this coming conversation was stressing me out so much, even with the sun, my prickles flared. Nothing I couldn't handle, of course, but I had to use more brain power to ignore them, which was taxing.

Leo grinned as I got closer. "Hey, Evil Enchantress!"

"Hey, Hot Stuff," I replied, putting my hands on my hips, hoping they couldn't see them trembling.

Leo sighed and shook his head. "I wish Hazel had never said anything."

I shrugged. "You gave me a nickname, it's only fair I have one for you."

"Yeah, but yours actually  _fits_  you." There was a small pause as he contemplated his words and quickly added, "In a way."

"Oh, you're selling yourself short, Leo," I replied, understanding what he meant. This didn't have the intended effect, though. Leo stiffened and his face flushed. Jason and Piper looked stunned, too, but it quickly passed and then they were trying to hide their snickers. "Anyway," I said quickly, feeling a blush rise in my cheeks in reaction to Leo's embarrassment. "I actually came over here because I wanted to speak with Jason. Alone." Jason and Piper immediately sobered up.

Jason looked at me with confusion and a hint of suspicion in his eyes.

"We can stay on the deck, out of earshot if that makes you feel better," I added, rolling my eyes.

Jason still seemed hesitant, but nodded, then turned to his friends. "I'll be right back." I turned and started toward one of the ballistae amidships, leaning against the railing and waiting for Jason to catch up.

"So, uh, what did you want to talk about?" he asked as he approached.

"What are we? What's our relationship?" I pushed away from the railing, but turned to look out at the ocean below us. In the distance, I could see we were getting really close to Epirus. Not to mention the black lightning that was shooting up from the ground was growing larger—releasing its energy every twelve minutes. I shivered at the memory of the elevator ride up.

When I realized Jason hadn't answered, I looked at him over my shoulder. He looked confused, and was blushing for a reason I couldn't fathom.

"Look, after what happened in Croatia," I began, facing him again. "I just feel like our dynamic has been different. And I'm sure you can understand that I'd want to clarify it before going into battle with you."

Jason's confusion cleared, but it transformed into a frown. "You think I'd…what, not have your back?"

"I don't know, you tell me." I responded. "You didn't trust me the moment you first arrived at Camp Half-Blood. And you haven't trusted me up until a week ago. So I…shoved you out of the way and showed I…care about other people. And now what? Do you trust me? Are you still weary of me? And be honest, I don't care if you still don't trust me or not, I just need to know for sure before we enter the House of Hades."

Jason shifted on his feet, exhaling and running his hand through his air. For some reason, in that moment, he reminded me of Luke.

"I don't know," he finally said, meeting my gaze, "if I'm being completely honest. I'm…still deciding." He grimaced like that was the worst thing that could happen to him—contemplation. "I don't know, I guess—" He broke off and exhaled sharply, looking down, like he was trying to decide if he wanted to say what he was thinking, out loud. Finally, he straightened up and met my eyes. "Luke wasn't a good person."

"I've never said he was," I responded, leaning back and bringing my hands behind me to grip the railing. I was still working through all the shit Cupid had thought it necessary he stir up in me again. So the mention of Luke was…hard.

Jason blinked, shocked. "But you still love him."

"Love's weird that way," I quipped.

Jason opened his mouth to respond, but Leo interrupted him, announcing that we only had a few minutes before we'd make it to our destination. Jason turned back to face me. "I still have a lot to say, a lot of things I want to discuss"—I rolled my eyes—"but long story short, I've got your back." He held out his hand.

I looked down at it, straightening up, shocked at his gesture, but took it all the same. Jason's hand was firm and strong as we shook, just once. Then he pulled away and started toward Piper and Leo, who were still at the helm, while giving commands, "Everyone, arm yourself. Leo, get us close, but don't land—no more contact with the ground than necessary."

I turned back to the railing, looking out across the horizon at our destination just as another bolt of black lightning lit up the sky. I was already armed and ready, though my hands shook at the thought of going back in there. And my pin-pricks were also having their say about it.

I didn't want to, but…I wanted to be there. They were capable by themselves, I was sure, but an extra fighter wouldn't hurt anyone (well, except the monsters, of course), and I felt very protective of them. I couldn't just let them venture down there by themselves.

Jason continued, "Piper, Hazel, get the mooring ropes."

"On it!" I heard Piper respond.

"Frank, get below and find Coach Hedge."

Epirus was just as I remembered it, from what little I saw before I'd passed out and been tossed into a cage and transported to Italy that, is. All the stunted trees and strewn boulders practically shimmered in the heat, cicadas buzzed in the trees (which sounded more like roaring).

I turned back to face the ship. "Anything I can do to help, Keptin?" I called to Jason.

Leo laughed as Jason turned and gave me a confused look. I couldn't tell if he was blushing or if it was the heat.

"I understood that reference!" Leo called. I grinned back at Leo as Jason looked between us, still confused.

"I, uh…guess you can also help with the mooring ropes," Jason finally said.

I gave him a lazy, two-fingered salute before going over to help Hazel. It was quick work, by the time Hazel and I finished we'd made it as close as we dared to let the ship get to the House of Hades.

Piper called us all over to the bow. The ship hovered over the River Acheron, and several hundred meters away stood the cluster of ruins Nico and I had exited on. From that spot, another bolt of dark lightning shot through the air. We were close enough now that the dark energy had substance, rocking the ship and sending out a cold shockwave, like if sonar took physical form.

"The Necormanteion," Nico said. "The House of Hades."

I swallowed hard as my stomach knotted. Memories of voices, dark tunnels, and worse, the Labyrinth, were starting to surface. I glanced at Nico and wondered how he looked as if this wasn't even affecting him.

"I feel vulnerable floating up here like this," Piper mumbled, hugging herself. "Couldn't we set down in the river?"

"I wouldn't," Hazel cautioned. "That's the River Acheron."

"I thought the Acheron was in the Underworld," Jason said.

"It is," Hazel answered. "But its headwaters are in the mortal world. That river below us? Eventually it flows underground, straight into the realm of Pluto—er, Hades. Landing a demigod ship on those waters—"

"Yeah, let's stay up here," Leo said quickly. "I don't want any zombie water on my hull."

"So, uh, Nico…" Frank waved his hand half-heartedly at the scepter Nico now held. "Have you learned to use that thing?"

"We'll find out." Nico kept his gaze on the ruins. Maybe he looked so together because he had to. I didn't think Hazel could raise the dead like Nico could, despite them both being children of the Underworld. "I don't intend to try until I have to. The Doors of Death are already working overtime bringing in Gaea's monsters. Any more activity raising the dead, and the Doors might shatter permanently, leaving a rip in the mortal world that can't be closed."

This scepter was supposed to help us?

"I hate rips in the world," Hedge muttered, crossing his arms. "Let's go bust some monster heads."

Frank glanced at Hedge with a concerned look, but it quickly cleared. "Coach, you should stay on board, cover us with the ballistae."

Hedge didn't like that suggestion. "Stay behind? Me? I'm your best soldier!"

"We might need air support," Frank reasoned. "Like we did in Rome. You saved our  _braccae_."

To my surprise, Hedge's frown lessoned and if I wasn't mistaken, he actually looked  _relieved_. To not join in the fight? When the only thing he talked about was fighting? Then I remembered the conversation I'd had with him, what was that wind nymph's name? Mellie? I guess there was something more to that than Hedge had let on, to me…based on his surprise when I told him I didn't know her name, making it apparent the others knew about her. Most likely, they knew more about her than I did.

"Well…" Hedge grumbled, still trying to look grouchy. "I suppose somebody's got to save your  _braccae_."

Jason clapped Hedge's shoulder and nodded at Frank. "So that's settled. Everybody else—let's get to the ruins. Time to crash Gaea's party."

I followed slowly behind the rest of the crew, unconsciously dragging my feet, as we made our way to the ruins. I had originally been wary about simply setting foot on the ground in the first place. Ever since I'd officially…joined Gaea's side, I hadn't had any dreams about her again. I hadn't received any instructions, or how exactly she was going to get me away from the crew. I was completely in the dark, except for the fact that I knew she wanted sacrifices. And I was cursing myself for not asking her  _when_  this was going to happen.

So I was afraid that she was waiting for me to return to land, to the earth, where she could contact me much easier (or maybe, even just drop me into the earth and knock me out until whenever she needed the sacrifices). I didn't need her talking to me right before we went into the House of Hades. We were going to be  _surrounded_  by earth when we entered the House of Hades, which only made this whole ordeal that much worse.

My heart was pounding in my chest, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. The humid, hot air wasn't helping. And neither were my damaged lungs from breathing in Tartarus's sulfurous air. My hands were slick with sweat from both the heat and my anxiety, and I had to continuously wipe them on my pants, so I'd be ready to pull my weapon and I wouldn't lose my grip. On top of all that, the prickles were steadily becoming harder to ignore. I'd taken three pain pills before we left, but now I was regretting not taking the whole bottle with me.

When we finally made it to the top of the hill that the ruins stood on, we climbed over a retaining wall and then down into an excavation trench. We weren't even unground and already I felt nauseous (although, above us swirled weird black tentacles of black energy, similar to that of the lightning). I was really starting to hate being underground—in the Labyrinth, in Tartarus, in the House of Hades. I glanced at Nico, wondering yet again how he looked so composed.

Nico, who was leading, faced us. "From here, it gets tough."

"Sweet," Leo said. I could see his shit-eating grin, even though I was behind him. "'Cause so far I've totally been pulling my punches."

Nico glowered at Leo. "We'll see how long you keep your sense of humor. Remember, this is where pilgrims came to commune with dead ancestors. Underground, you may see things that are hard to look at, or hear voices trying to lead you astray in the tunnels." My heart started to creep its way into my throat at the memory of the voices. "Frank, do you have the barley cakes?"

"What?" Frank seemed startled, like he'd been caught not paying attention in class and the teacher was now looking for an answer to a question he hadn't heard.

"I've got the cakes," Hazel said, pulling them out from her pocket, wrapped in cloth.

"Eat up," Nico said as Hazel started passing them around.

I took mine, but instead stared down at it, trying to decide if I was really going to do this. I wanted to be there to help, but simply standing in this trench was already bringing up memories of my time in the Labyrinth and Tartarus. I saw Eddie's pleading face, could hear his body being crushed under a stone ceiling. I heard the cries and roars of the monsters in Tartarus, could smell the sulfurous air. I could hear the voices when we'd first gone through the House of Hades: the true meaning of sacrifice; my mom.

"Tori." Nico's voice was quiet, but worried. "Are you good?"

I looked at him, then my eyes flickered to the entrance of the tunnel and the memories of my time underground almost became too overwhelming. I sighed, and shook my head. "I can't do this. I'm sorry."

With the barley cake still in my hand, I climbed out of the excavation trench. I turned to face them long enough to say, "Stay safe." before making my way back to the retaining wall and easily climbing back over it. I stopped there, and leaned against the wall, holding my hand against my mouth to keep the sobs contained as tears streamed down my cheeks.

I kept my mouth covered until I heard their shuffling feet fade and disappear as they entered the tunnel. Unable to hold it together any longer, I slid down to the ground, and sobbed. I wished  _Audrey II_  were here. I also wished I'd taken my pain meds bottle, because the stress of this whole ordeal was preventing them from actually helping with the prickles.

When I finally came back, exhausted myself enough that I couldn't cry anymore, I sat back against the wall and looked out across the landscape. It was abysmal, even in the sunlight, everything looked grey. The cry of the cicadas was strangely therapeutic. It was loud enough that it blocked out any other thoughts I may have had after completely breaking down.

Just when I thought I'd be able to make my way back to the ship, I felt the earth rumble, traveling up through the wall I was leaning on, and thus, literally traveling up my spine. I rested my head back against the wall, just accepting my Fate.

"You have impeccable timing," I commented, closing my eyes.

 _Just wanted to check in on my most…_ valued _asset._

I snorted. "You never gave me a date that you planned to get the sacrifices. You never even told me what else you wanted me for. Why go to all the trouble, only to have me sit around and do nothing?"

Instead of answering me, she said,  _You seem awfully close to those…_ other _demigods._

"Just because I've agreed to…help you, doesn't mean I can't…care about them." I pulled my knees into my chest and rested my chin on my folded arms.

_Wouldn't that just make it harder to betray them?_

"I'm doing this… _for_  them," I mumbled, frowning about how much I was starting to sound like Luke. Maybe I was Fated to follow along his path. Only, it looked like I might not end up in Elysium. "The gods…"

_Deserve what they have coming to them._

"Yeah." I pushed myself to my feet, feeling like I weighed a thousand pounds more. "They do."

* * *

Hedge was confused as to why I'd come back, but when I got close enough for him to see my face, he nodded in understanding and left me to my own devices, for which I was grateful. I went below-decks to take more pain meds. Audrey II was very happy to see me back so soon, and I was glad for her now-familiar comfort. We settled into my cot and I soon fell asleep from my exhaustion, and Audrey II's contended rumbling.

My dreams pulled me back into Tartarus, but it was a strange combination of the Labyrinth and the House of Hades because of my recent…ordeal. It was great. I mean, at least Gaea didn't show up, but even after having so many nightmares of Tartarus, I wasn't used to them. I didn't think I'd ever get used to them. Worse, I didn't think they'd ever go away.

It wasn't Audrey II who woke me up this time. It was a loud thump on the top of the deck that startled me awake. Audrey II was nowhere to be seen, and that was my first clue something was wrong. Still half in Tartarus, I strapped my sword to my waist as I took the steps up to the top deck two at a time.

I unsheathed my sword as soon as I got to the last few steps to the top deck. I scanned the deck, my ADHD allowing me to take everything in, in a short time. The deck was completely empty, except for near the railing, to my left. Audrey II sat next to Hedge, who was kneeling next to a girl who was sitting, bowed over a pegasus, who was lying on its side, breathing heavily. The pegasus looked worse for wear, with some nasty lacerations along its body, oozing blood, mixed with a greenish-black substance—poisoned claw marks.

I paused on the second to last stair, sword still drawn, not quite comprehending what was going on. Hedge had heard me and turned. When he saw my sword, he stood and his hands shot up in a "stop" gesture. The girl didn't indicate if she'd heard me. Her shoulders shook like she was crying. She was in battle gear—breastplate, arm and shin guards, with a purple cloak attached to her breastplate. Her hair was dark and pulled into a braid.

Sheathing my sword, I slowly made my way up the last step and toward the small group. Hedge met me half-way.

"This is Reyna," he muttered. His eyes were red-rimmed, like he was trying to keep from crying. "Her pegasus…" Hedge looked back at her over his shoulder and the words caught in his throat. "…he's not gonna make it."

"Is there…is there anything I can do?" I asked, trying to switch modes. Thankfully, I was fully awake. Un…thankfully, my ADHD had kicked in, so my heart was pounding, and my mind was ready, waiting for a fight or an attack. None of this helped my chronic pain, and I'd been so ready for a fight when I got to the top deck, I hadn't even thought about taking pain meds.

Hedge cleared his throat and shook his head. "Not even healing nature magic will help now. The poison from the gryphon wounds, combined with their journey over the Atlantic, was too much."

I looked back at Reyna just in time to see her unsheathe a golden dagger. Since I was on alert for signs of danger, I bristled and took a step forward. Hedge was there, blocking me like a line-backer.

"It's okay, she's putting him out of his misery. She just…" He glanced over his shoulder again. When he face me, his eyes were pooled with tears, his voice rougher. "She needed time to say goodbye."

I nodded in understanding, trying to get my breathing under control. Hedge made sure I wasn't going to do any brash before stepping out of my way. He did hold my arm and gently turned me around. He turned his back toward Reyna as well, to give her some privacy. I waited, holding my breath, until I heard the clatter of her dagger against the wooden boards of the deck.

Hedge and I gave her another moment before I slowly turned around. Audrey II had nudged her way into Reyna's lap, and I couldn't help but smile at Audrey II's caring nature. Reyna's shoulder's shook, but she was crying too quietly for me to hear over the sound of the cicadas below.

I looked at Hedge. "I'll be right back," I said quietly. I went down to the sickbay to grab a box of tissues (and take some pain meds), then up to the mess hall to get a glass of water. When I got back to the top deck again, Hedge was sitting next to Reyna, rubbing gentle circles on Reyna's back. I approached from Hedge's side and set down the tissues and glass of water in front of Reyna. Audrey II was still in her lap, rumbling, with her head resting in the crook of Reyna's elbow.

Reyna's head jerked up and despite her red-rimmed, tear-filled eyes, I could tell she was quickly appraising me. I sat down in front of them, but more near Hedge than Reyna, because I didn't know her that well. I didn't know what Jason had told her about me, if he'd even had the chance to, so I was wary to get too close.

"Thank you," she finally said, her eyes softening.

I nodded. "Of course."

After a few quiet moments, Hedge stood and stretched. "I'm gonna go to the helm, monitor what's going on down below, just in case those kids need my help."

I nodded and scooted over to take up Hedge's space as he clopped over to the helm, though I kept a few inches more between me and Reyna. Audrey II perked up when I'd moved. As soon as I'd settled, she rumbled and waddled from Reyna's lap into mine.

"She yours?" Reyna asked, watching as Audrey II got comfortable.

"Yeah." I scratched underneath Audrey II's chin and was glad for her extra warmth because it helped with my prickles. "A therapy pet, of sorts. Easier to take care of than a cat or dog on a flying trireme in the Ancient Lands."

That managed to pull a laugh from Reyna. But I didn't know what else to say after that. I was still unsure of what she knew about me, if anything. I wanted to console her, but I felt like saying anything now would be too soon and come off as insincere.

Reyna looked over at the helm, where Hedge stood at attention, eyes scanning the horizon.

"I think I'll join him," she said. I nodded silently and started to stand, too. Audrey II squawked in annoyance, but quickly moved to my shoulders. I went to pick up the tissues (I'd come back up with a plastic bag for the used ones) and empty glass as Reyna picked up her dagger and sheathed it.

Cleaning everything up was quick work, but I was tired when I got back down to the sick bay. I was so annoyed that such a small task had drained me, but there was a lot of things weighing on my mind. I had a terrible feeling that whatever Gaea was planning for me was coming closer. And I was still trying to figure out why she thought that I was so important and critical to her victory against the gods. She had  _giants_. Why did she need  _me_? Was I really so powerful? (I mean, I guess if the gods really  _had_  thrown me into Tartarus….) And what about Luke? Was she going to bring him back? Did she really think we were as powerful as the giants together?

Without really thinking about it, I'd sat down on my usual cot. Then I laid down, because I was already sitting, and just sitting had my eyes drooping. I closed my eyes, figuring resting for a few minutes wouldn't be so bad. I yawned and rolled over, pulling my legs up on the cot. Audrey II came and nudged her way under my arm and curled up next to my stomach. Her steady rumbling lulled me into sleep easily.

I, of course, had more dreams of Tartarus.

* * *

Two things woke me up this time, Audrey II and someone calling my name. I bolted up, gasping. I blinked away sleep, and pushed away the pin-pricks as fast as I could, and was already reaching for my sword.

"What's wrong? Is everyone okay?" I asked, standing, still half-awake. My vision hadn't even cleared yet.

"It's okay; it's fine." I recognized Nico's voice before my vision finally cleared. Then I saw him standing a few feet in front of me with this hands up in a "settle down" gesture.

I let out a breath of relief, and set my sword to rest against the cot, which Audrey II had remained sitting on. "You guys made it." Nico slowly lowered his arms and smiled, nodding. I started toward him before pausing and remembering Nico didn't like physical touch. I looked at him in silent question and he nodded again. I continued forward, and gently wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

I pulled away and gave him some space. "Percy and Annabeth?"

Nico's face darkened, but he looked tiredly relieved. "They made it out. They're alive."

I blinked away the tears that pooled in my eyes and nodded. "That's good. I'm glad to hear."

"That's actually why I came down to wake you," Nico continued, his face clearing a little. "Hazel and Frank are going to need some healing and time to recuperate down here for a little while. They're waiting on the top deck, currently."

"Okay. Thank you." I quickly took some pain meds and started toward the door. "I'm…going to head up. You coming?"

Nico shifted awkwardly. "I think I'll…stay down here for a bit. Hazel and Frank will be down, so."

I smiled in understanding. "I'm always here if you need." I reminded. Nico managed a small smile, and nodded. I whistled for Audrey II before heading up to the top deck, strangely nervous to see Percy and Annabeth again. I hadn't seen…either of them for quite a while. And so much had happened since then. I grimaced, thinking about what I had promised Gaea, what her plans for them were, but quickly shook it off as I got to the last set of stairs. Audrey II had settled on my shoulders.

As Nico had said, Frank and Hazel were waiting near the stairs. Frank's arm was bandaged, but the bandage was already soaked with blood. Hazel was nursing her side and I flinched when I realized it was because of her broken ribs. I greeted them, told them I was glad to see they were relatively all right, and then let them get down to the sick bay.

The rest of the crew were nowhere to be seen, and I wondered where they could all be. It was also a bit of a let-down, having expected to see not only them, but Percy and Annabeth as well. I had braced myself for it, even.

Somehow, over the sound of the cicadas, I heard what sounded like mechanical whirring. I walked over to the side of the ship and peered over. The  _Argo II_  had moved closer to the hillside, and was anchored there, hovering. Currently, the Athena Parthenos was being lowered onto it. Below, I could see the rest of the crew milling about, setting up what looked to be a picnic of sorts.

A handful of them were watching as the Parthenos was lowered. I was about to head down when someone called my name.

Well…I say name: "Evil Enchantress!"

I turned and grinned at Leo as he jogged toward me. "Hey, Hot Stuff. Glad to see you're intact and still smiling." Audrey II flew from my4 shoulder perch and greeted Leo, who scratched her chin.

"Hey, good to see you, too," He cooed. Then he smiled at me. "Glad to see you doing better." He came to a stop in front of me.

I rubbed my arm self-consciously as Audrey II came back to my shoulder. "Yeah, sorry about that. I just…don't like being underground very much anymore."

Leo shuddered. "After what we went through, I don't blame you. I mean, after all you've been through, too, I  _really_  don't blame you."

"Thanks."

"So, hey, I uh…wanted to…show—give you something." Leo rubbed the back of his head and shifted nervously. I cocked an eyebrow. "Just…something I thought you might like. Come on." Leo grinned and spun around, heading back toward the stairs.

"Can I ask what you want to show-give me?" I asked, following him suit.

"It's a surprise."

Okay, so—and we've been over this before—I didn't normally like surprises. But coming from a friend, I found I was excited. I couldn't even begin to fathom what it could be. We went all the way down, past the sick bay, and toward the engine. Before I could go any further, however, Leo stopped me.

"Close your eyes," he instructed. I made a face. "For a hot second, I promise."

I shifted uncomfortably, my hand itching to unsheathe my sword, even though I knew I could trust Leo. My pin-pricks flared, despite Audrey II wrapped around my neck. And, look, it wasn't so much that I  _didn't_  trust him, really. It was more so the fact that I was scared to close my eyes for longer than necessary. I didn't like to be in the dark, literally and figuratively.

"You're lucky you're my friend," I muttered, taking a deep breath, furling my hands into fists and closing my eyes.

I heard Leo moving about, pulling cloth from something maybe? Then coming back toward me. Before I could open my eyes, I heard the familiar, comforting sound of a guitar being strummed. It reminded me so much of home, of my mom and my brother, I felt tears pool in my eyes.

Gasping, my eyes snapped open. I think my jaw may have dropped.

Before me, Leo held a  _beautiful_  guitar. The body was stained matte black so you could still see the wood grain, and adorned with intricate, broken-up patterns of white roses, swirls, and whorls, starting on the upper side of the body, and following the curve of the guitar downward, thinning out and stopping right before getting to the curve on the lower side of the body. The neck was a lighter mahogany color, the headstock a slightly darker shade. The frets were labeled with small, intricate roses, like those on the body. And the strings gleamed like he'd used Celestial Bronze. The tuning pegs gleamed silver.

Leo lifted the guitar strap over his head and held the guitar out for me.

"I know it's not… _your_  guitar, but…I figured it's something," he said, sounding nervous.

I stepped forward and gently took it, running my fingers over every inch, getting to know it.

"Leo, it's beautiful," I whispered, as I did so. I strummed it again and nodded appreciatively. "Perfectly tuned." I looked back at Leo. "Did you paint this design?"

"Hazel helped a lot," Leo shrugged, looking embarrassed. "I really just provided the paint."

"But you did the rest?" I asked, making a note that I'd have to thank Hazel later.

Leo nodded, blushing.

"It's beautiful," I repeated, keeping a hold of the neck, but dropping it to my side so I could give Leo a one-armed hug. Well as best I could, considering Audrey II was still around my neck. "Thank you so much. It means a lot." I felt tears pool in my eyes again, but forced them back. I pulled away and smiled again, gripping the neck of my new guitar. He was right, it wasn't my mom's, but it was just as special to me for a completely different reason.

"It's no biggie." Leo shrugged, embarrassed again. "I figured you'd like a guitar to play with, what with all that singing you do. I imagine you'll be unstoppable with an instrument now, huh?" He winked and I couldn't help but laugh.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough," I commented with a cheeky grin.

"We're having a picnic soon, you're welcome to join," Leo said. "Maybe we'll even have some live music?"

I rolled my eyes. "Food does sound good. But I hope you've got some extra cash on you, because I don't come cheap."

"Free food isn't enough?" Leo exclaimed in mock horror.

"Afraid not."

"Just as long as you don't go hypnotizing us, yeah?" Leo started past me. "Though, I suppose it wouldn't be so bad. Being under your spell," he called over his shoulder as he headed down the hall to the steps.

I tried for a laugh, wondering if it'd even made it that far down the hall, but felt frozen to the spot by Leo's comment. I thought about when Gaea was trying to be  _oh-so_ helpful and introduce me to my newfound skill—the children I'd put into a trance, under a spell. Could that be what Gaea was planning? Would she give me another song that was meant for teens? Adults? Could my voice really be so powerful that I could put them into such a suggestible trance?

I swallowed hard. Despite having stayed far away from that possibility when I'd been practicing with Chiron, it was clear that my voice had powerful effects. Some effects I had been too scared to explore.

"You coming?" Leo called. He was at the top of the stairs now.

"Yeah," I called back, my voice cracking. I cleared it and started down the hall, too. "I just want to say 'thank you' to Hazel real fast." Leo nodded and began his ascent again. I took a detour and stopped in the doorway of the sickbay.

Hazel and Frank were sitting on opposite cots, chatting, smiling, and laughing. Audrey II went to greet Hazel and simultaneously curl up in the girl's lap. Nico sat next to his sister, not engaging in the conversation, but he looked content enough.

They all looked up as I leaned against the doorframe. Hazel's eyes went to the guitar in my hand and her eyes lit up.

"Oh, he gave it to you?" she asked.

I nodded, smiling. "Yep, just now. It's beautiful. And I wanted to thank you for your beautiful handiwork." I brandished the front of the guitar so Nico and Frank could see.

Hazel blushed as the compliments came flooding in. I took the time to take a few more pain meds (and take the bottle, if we were going to have a picnic on the hill). Despite the reprieve we seemed to be getting currently—knock on wood—my prickles hadn't seem to get the memo. They seemed a little worse than usual, and the pain meds were only half working. Maybe if I had some food and water, time in the sun, with friends, and my new guitar (!) I'd start to feel a little better.

"I'll see you for the picnic," I said when I'd finished taking the meds, and the two boys had paused to breathe before heading out. Audrey II didn't follow, so I figured she was content in Hazel's lap for now.

* * *

As much as I wanted to  _also_  take a quiver of arrows down to the picnic, I simply stuck to my sword and dagger, only because I now had a guitar on my back. I didn't often carry my guitar around camp, afraid it might incur damage (also, I was too busy training to really play). But it was such a comforting feeling to have it on my back.

Percy and Annabeth spotted me half-way to where they were setting up the picnic. I smiled and waved as they started over to me. My heart started pounding in my chest again as they got closer, but it was good to see them after knowing they'd been in Tartarus. And they looked as well as they could've been, having just gotten out. I imagine I'd looked about the same when I'd emerged from Tartarus. They were both smiling, and they were holding hands.

It'd been a while since Annabeth had found Percy, but I could tell just how much happier, and relieved, they looked to be with each other again. Maybe my mind was just making shit up, but I knew how much  _better_  I felt when I was around Luke.

As soon as we got close enough, Annabeth closed the distance and, shockingly, hugged me. I was so stunned that it took me a moment to return the hug.

"It's good to see you," I said, pulling away. I looked at Percy. "Hey, kid."

Percy looked at me incredulously. "Seriously? I'm taller than you!  _Much_  taller!" To prove his point, he stepped closer and compared our heights with his hand. "About a head taller to be exact, pipsqueak."

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still  _older_  than you.  _Six_  years older, to be exact."

Percy rolled his eyes, but resigned to the fact that I'd always see him as a kid, and pulled me into a hug. I was shocked yet again, but managed to get over it faster this time.

Honestly, they all were still just kids to me. And I was fucking furious that they were all still expected to save the world  _after_  everything else they had already been through.

"Nice guitar," Annabeth commented as Percy and I pulled away. I didn't miss that he and Annabeth immediately took each other's hands again. My heart ached.

"Thanks." I couldn't help but smile as I pulled it in front of me to show them. "Leo made it for me. Hazel painted this design." I pushed it onto my back again. "So, is there anything I can do to help out with anything down here?"

About an hour later, everyone had gotten some rest, healing, and time to recuperate, and we were now sitting in a circle with a picnic spread out before us. I'd managed to find a large rock I could lean back against that was still within the circle, though I wasn't sitting up and  _right next to_  the others. Audrey II had joined us, as well, snoozing on top of the rock behind me. Nico sat next to me, across the circle from Percy, I noticed.

I  _was_  hungry, but it was still hard for me to eat in general, so I picked and nibbled at fruit and half a sandwich. Mostly, I sat back, with my guitar in my lap, picking and plucking at the strings, a thrill going through me with each note. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed being able to play.

As Reyna and the others talked about Praetor Zhang, I threw a grape at the back of Nico's neck. He jumped and reached back to feel his neck before turning to glare at me. I held out half of my sandwich for him, giving him a pointed look. This time Nico didn't try and argue. He did continue to glare at me, however, as he slowly reached for the sandwich.

"You're not my  _real_  mom," he mumbled, turning to face the circle again and nibbling on the sandwich. I rolled my eyes and snorted, gently nudging him with knee as I went back to quietly playing my guitar. Nico looked at me briefly to smile at me before going back to his sandwich.

Laughter broke out among the others, pulling me back into the conversation.

"So, the twenty-million-peso question," Leo said as he speared a chocolate-covered strawberry with a small screwdriver. "We got this slightly used forty-foot-tall statue of Athena. What do we do with it?"

Reyna looked up at the statue, looming over our group. "As fine as it looks on this hill, I didn't come all this way to admire it. According to Annabeth, it must be returned to Camp Half-Blood by a Roman leader. Do I understand correctly?"

Annabeth nodded. "I had a dream down in…you know, Tartarus. I was on Half-Blood Hill, and Athena's voice said,  _I must stand here. The Roman must bring me._ "

"It makes sense," Nico commented. "The statue is a powerful symbol. A Roman returning it to the Greeks…that could heal the historic rift, maybe even heal the gods of their split personalities."

"Now, hold on," Hedge piped in. "I like peace as much as the next satyr—"

I rolled my eyes as Leo said, "You  _hate_  peace."

"The point is, Valdez, we're only—what, a few days from Athens? We got an army of giants waiting for us there. We went to all the trouble of saving this statue—"

" _I_  went to most of the trouble," Annabeth corrected, giving him a pointed look.

"—because that prophecy called the  _giants' bane_ ," Hedge continued, ignoring Annabeth. "So why aren't we taking it to Athens with us? It's obviously our secret weapon." He looked over at the Parthenos. "It looks like a ballistic missile to me. Maybe if Valdez strapped some engines to it—"

Piper cleared her throat and coughed. "Uh, great idea, Coach, but a lot of us have had dreams and visions of Gaea rising at Camp Half-Blood…" A shiver went down my spine, and I was almost afraid Gaea would start trying to talk to me right now. Thankfully, there were no tremors in the ground. This was news to me, though. I frowned, regretting that I hadn't been more specific when I'd asked her what her plan was.

Piper pulled out her dagger and set it on her plate. "Since we got back to the ship, I've been seeing some bad stuff in the knife. The Roman legion is almost within striking distance of Camp Half-Blood." I bristled at this news, and my fingers faltered on the strings of my guitar, which seemed to have an effect on the group. They all flinched and glanced at me. I was too busy thinking about my siblings, about Dan and Viola. I knew I wouldn't be able to stop Dan from fighting, but Viola was out of the question.

"They're gathering reinforcements," Piper continued. "Spirits, eagles, wolves."

"Octavian," Reyna growled. I was liking less and less where this conversation was going. So far, the pain meds and sun had done wonders on my chronic pain. But now my body was turning cold, and the prickles were steadily growing worse (and I couldn't pick back up on my guitar where I'd left off).

Apollo sure was  _not_  having great luck with some of his children. I wondered who the gods would blame this time. Thinking about what I was planning to do, probably me.

"I  _told_  him to wait," Reyna continued.

"When we take over command," Frank started, "our first order of business should be to load Octavian into the nearest catapult and fire him as far away as possible."

"Agreed," Reyna muttered. "But for now—"

"He's intent on war," Annabeth finished. "He'll have it, unless we stop him."

Piper turned the blade of her knife. "Unfortunately, that's not the worst of it. I saw images of a possible future—the camp in flames, Roman and Greek demigods lying dead. And Gaea…" Her voice died out, her expression looking sick and grief-stricken.

"So Reyna takes the statue," Percy said after a long silence. "And we continue to Athens."

"Cool with me." Leo shrugged. "But, uh, a few pesky logistical problems. We got what—two weeks until that Roman feast day when Gaea is supposed to rise?"

"The Feast of Spes," Jason supplied. "That's the first of August." Oh good, at least now I had a date. "Today is—"

"July eighteenth," Frank said. "So, yeah, from tomorrow, exactly fourteen days."

Two weeks? What was I supposed to do for Gaea for  _two weeks_?  _If_  she even wanted me to do things in these next two weeks. What's more, she'd said she'd tell me  _only_  what I needed to know, which was information about the sacrifices she needed, so she could rise on August 1. So, what? She was expecting me to just sit around and twiddle my thumbs for two weeks until then?

"It took us  _eighteen_  days to get from Rome to here—a trip that should've only taken two or three days, max." Hazel frowned.

"So, given our usual luck," Leo added, " _maybe_  we have enough time to get the  _Argo II_  to Athens, find the giants, and stop them from waking Gaea.  _Maybe._  But how is Reyna supposed to get this massive statue back to Camp Half-Blood before the Greeks and Romans put each other through the blender? She doesn't even have her pegasus anymore. Uh, sorry—"

"Fine." Reyna's voice was cold, but I could see the grief in her eyes. She took a deep breath and her voice was less hostile when she spoke again. "Unfortunately, Leo is correct. I don't see how I can transport something so large. I was assuming—well, I was hoping you would all have an answer."

"The Labyrinth," Hazel suggested. "I—I mean, if Pasiphaë really has reopened it, and I think she  _has_ …" Hazel glanced at Percy. I felt my heart drop into my stomach at the thought that the Labyrinth was reforming. It just didn't seem fair. Daedalus had made it sound like if he died, it would be gone forever. Now it was being reformed?

"Well," Hazel continued, "you said the Labyrinth could take you anywhere. So maybe—"

"No." Percy, Annabeth, and I spoke in unison. I was, perhaps, a little too emphatic.

"Not to shoot you down, Hazel," Percy continued. "It's just…" He trailed off, trying to find the words. I couldn't blame him, really. How could you describe the horrors of the Labyrinth to someone who'd never been in it? How it moved, breathed, lived— _changed_  according to your thoughts, leading you into monsters and traps. If those didn't kill you, simply being there could drive you insane.

"For one thing," Percy finally said. "The passages in the Labyrinth are way too small for the Athena Parthenos. There's no chance you could take it down there—"

"And even if the maze  _is_  reopening," Annabeth said, "we don't know what it might be like now. It was dangerous enough before, under Daedalus's control, and he wasn't evil. If Pasiphaë has remade the Labyrinth the way she wanted…" Annabeth shook her head and I shuddered, my stomach churning. "Hazel,  _maybe_  your underground senses could guide Reyna through, but no one else would stand a chance. And we need you here. Besides, if you got lost down there—"

"You're right." Hazel's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Never mind."

Reyna looked around the group. I was jealous of her posture. "Other ideas?"

"I could go," Frank suggested, but it was followed by a frown. "If I'm praetor, I  _should_  go. Maybe we could rig some sort of sled, or—"

"No, Frank Zhang," Reyna stopped him gently. "I hope we will work side by side in the future, but for now your place is with the crew of this ship. You are one of the seven of the prophecy."

"I'm not," Nico chimed.

Everyone stopped eating and looked over at him.

Hazel, worry in her eyes, set down her fork carefully. "Nico—"

"I'll go with Reyna," he said, interrupting his sister. "I can transport the statue with shadow-travel."

"Uh…" Percy hesitantly raised his hand. "I mean, I know you just got all eight of us to the surface, and that was awesome. But a year ago you said transporting just  _yourself_  was dangerous and unpredictable. A couple of times you ended up in China. Transporting a forty-foot statue and two people halfway across the world—"

"I've changed since I came back from Tartarus." Nico's voice could've cut through steel. He glared at Percy, and I felt my heart ache for him, wishing I could be there for him, but there were too many people around.

"Nico," Jason said carefully. "We're not questioning your power. We just want to make sure you don't kill yourself trying."

"I can do it," Nico pressed. "I'll make short jumps—a few hundred miles each time. It's true, after each jump I won't be in any shape to fend off monsters. I'll need Reyna to defend me and the statue."

"Any objections?" Reyna asked, looking around the group. Her eyes lingered on me and I wondered why. She reminded me a lot of Annabeth—how keen and observant they both were. Maybe she'd seen that Nico and I had a close relationship.

When no one spoke, Reyna nodded. "Very well. I see no better option. But there will be  _many_  monster attacks. I would feel better taking a third person. That's the optimal number for a quest."

Some eyes flickered to me, but Frank blurted, "Coach Hedge."

Percy gave Frank a confused look. "Uh, what, Frank?"

"The coach is the best choice," Frank said. "The  _only_  choice—" Frank jumped like he'd been shocked and looked at me, as if remembering I existed. Then everyone's eyes were on me. I tensed and my hand twitched toward my dagger.

I tried to shrug it off. "I can get back to the States on my own. Help out at Camp Half-Blood." I still had that wad of cash Apollo had given me. Honestly, why give me so much if he knew I wouldn't be using nearly all of it? Though, now it looked like it was going to be used very soon.

"How?" Percy didn't sound convinced at all. None of them  _looked_  convinced.

"I know people," I said, feeling offended. I thought about Bridget and wondered if she was still in Italy. I'd accidentally memorized her phone number because sometimes, during my downtime, I'd stared at it, remembering how normal I'd felt and trying to enjoy that feeling for as long as possible. "Just get me to a city with a phone."

"I think I would appreciate having another demigod to help me protect Nico and the Athena Parthenos," Reyna commented. "No offense, but it would be a better choice over a faun."

"Satyr!" Hedge barked. He was going to say more, but Frank intervened.

"He's a good fighter, Reyna," Frank said. "He's a certified protector. He can also get the job done."

"Three is the usual number for quests like these," Reyna said, still looking doubtful.

"You could possibly take four," Annabeth said. "I…I went on a quest with four members a few years ago. It worked out." She grimaced and pain shot through her eyes momentarily before her walls came down. I had a feeling why.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure—" Reyna broke off, her eyes widening. I bolted up in a straighter sitting position, reaching for my dagger and scanning the hill for what she could have possibly seen.

Instead, what I saw was an IM beginning to form—or trying very hard to—in the middle of our circle. As was the usual these days, the IM flickered and in out because the connection wasn't very good. When it steadied out, however, I blanched.

"Chiron?" Percy asked, sounding just as incredulous as I was.

"Percy!" Chiron exclaimed, a smile stretching across the tired centaur's face. "And Annabeth!" It looked like he was in the living room of the Big House. My skin crawled just  _seeing_  the vines through the IM. Someone was muttering constantly in the background, but they were talking too low for me to hear what they were saying.

"It's good to see you're all right," Chiron said.

"Yeah, it's good to see you, too. But, what's wrong? Why are you messaging us?" Percy asked.

"Not just me…also…" The IM cut out. "…brother." Chiron pulled back and then I saw Tyson.

Percy jolted before a grin broke out across his face. "Tyson!"

"…brother—" Tyson shouted, but the IM was seriously having trouble. Pulling out of my shock as best I could, I began to gently pick and strum my guitar, softly humming a mindless tune. The IM almost immediately strengthened. Still fuzzy, but it wasn't cutting out anymore.

"It is good to see you all!" Tyson exclaimed waving. Most of the group waved back, smiling. It almost made me wonder if they'd met Tyson before.

"As you may have guessed," Chiron said. "This is not a social call. Ella is acting up and insisted that I get a message to you. I'm afraid…it may be another prophecy."

My fingers faltered, and my blood ran cold. My pin-pricks burst like a firework. The IM cut out again. Trying to get past my dread, I began playing and humming again. The IM came back and now a bright red harpy I'd never seen before was within view. She was the one who'd been muttering.

"Ella, would you mind telling them what you told me?" Chiron asked, gently. Ella kept muttering under her breath as she looked through the IM, shifting over each person of the group. When she got to me, though, her head snapped up and she stopped muttering.

My heart stopped and I froze, unable to keep playing and humming. Not that I needed to because the stars must've aligned or something. The IM stayed perfectly clear as Ella recited a prophecy:

" _Four to take the giants' bane, The Victor to appear slain. A power granted like a vice, To keep or break, and pay the price. A deal struck, lights like kerosene, And the gods' pawn then becomes Queen. Regardless of Orpheus's final plea, Again, unable to save Eurydice._ "

The IM started flickering as soon as Ella finished. She looked calmer, no longer muttering to herself. Chiron reappeared, but the connection was too fuzzy now. All I could make out was possibly, "Good luck." but I was unsure. Before anyone could say anything else, the IM disappeared completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, buddies, pals, I am so sorry. I know it's been so long since I've posted, but wow grad school is _the worst_. Don't do it unless you _know_ you really want to, like for real.
> 
> But anyway, I finally figured out where I'm headed with this story (which may be closer to the end than you—than, even I?—think). Of course, I'd hit a writer's block as soon as I have the time and energy to write. But I finally got past it, just had to figure out where I wanted Tori to be during the crew's quest into the House of Hades.
> 
> Not much else to say by way of notes—that I can think of, anyway.
> 
> THANK YOU for sticking with me to the end (of the line). I know I say this after every semi-hiatus, but I really do mean it. Because it really does mean the absolute world to me that you'd wait so patiently for me—and allow me to put my academics first—to post chapters. Summer is here, and since we're pretty close to the end of the series, I hope to finish it before next school year begins (knock on wood). More on what'll happen after when we get to the final chapter ;)
> 
> The title is from the second(?) PJO movie; it's what the Oracle says when Percy goes up to the attic for the prophecy.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated ^_^ (What do you think of the prophecy? It's taken me literal _months_ to come to what you have here, in this chapter. Writing prophecies are _hard_.)
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	43. Strings of Our Souls

I'll be honest, I wasn't quite sure what happened in the minutes following, because I was stuck on the last line of the prophecy:  _Regardless of Orpheus's final plea, Again, unable to save Eurydice._

Now generally— _generally_ —prophecies were too vague and metaphorical to make out, but that seemed  _crystal clear_  to me. Of course, out of all the demigods to get a crystal clear line of prophecy, I'd be the one. Just my fucking luck.

I looked down at my new guitar in a daze, it feeling a thousand times heavier in my lap. Some part of me knew that it would be an impossible task. Not because I couldn't learn from the original Greek myth, but because the gods would most likely not allow it again. Not to mention that they absolutely hated my guts, and I was still on probation with them. (Technically speaking—they'd sent me to maximum security, but I'd escaped. So there's that.) The only reason I could fathom I was still alive was the fact that they were in far too much pain from the split that they didn't have the wherewithal  _to_  smite me.

When I heard my name, I snapped back to reality and into the conversation. I looked around at the rest of the demigods in the circle, they were all looking at me.

I didn't think I could laugh and pretend I'd heard what they'd said. But I was still dazed, so instead of asking what I'd missed, all my brain could manage was, "Um, what?" My hands hung limply over my guitar, it cold to the touch, as if it'd turned to ice. Or maybe my skin had gone cold. Even under the heat of the early morning sun. Now that I had returned to reality, though, I could also feel my pin-pricks (growing steadily, alongside my stress).

"We were…trying to break down the prophecy," Frank provided.

I blinked. "Why?" They gave me confused looks and I flushed with embarrassment. "I mean, just because we work it out doesn't mean it's going to turn out the way we think. You guys should know that by now. It's no use."

"Well it did help in that it sounds like Reyna and Nico, along with Tori and Coach will be taking the Athena Parthenos beck to Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said, then paused briefly. "The Victor  _could_  mean Tori." Her stormy grey eyes were on me—she was completely in Athena-mode, looking at me like I was a complex puzzle to be solved. "Your full name, Victoria, means victory." Then her eyes were on Nico. "But it could also mean Nico, because his name means victory as well." She frowned. "It sounds like one of you may have a close brush with death."

Nico snorted.

"I told you it's pointless to dissect this," I tried, but Annabeth was on a role.

"I'm…unsure about what power it could be referencing," she muttered. "Maybe a blessing from the gods? We're at our most powerful, practically invincible, when we're blessed."

"But I wouldn't say it's a vice," Frank chimed in. "I was pretty fatigued after my blessing wore off, but that's hardly a vice."

"So it's something else, but the line is way too vague to make out," Piper said.

"The next part isn't any better." Jason shrugged. "To keep or break what? Probably something important if there is a price to pay, but that's really all you could make of that. It could be an object."

"Or a promise." Leo frowned.

 _Or a swear,_  I thought. But I didn't want to say it out loud. Even if I did, they would still be just as lost.

"And the beginning of the next line is just as vague," Reyna sighed. "Some kind of deal—a very precarious deal, it sounds." Chills ran down my spine as I realized what it was talking about. It  _had_  to be talking about my deal with Gaea, surely? Ella had looked directly at  _me_  before she started reciting the prophecy, so that must've meant it was about me…or that I had a big role to play in it.  _Lights like kerosene_ , that didn't sound particularly good.

I was suddenly reminded of Cupid's words—I would always lose. My deal with Gaea would go up in flames. Would she break her swear on the Styx? Did she have something else planned?

This was the other reason I hated trying to dissect prophecies—even if it  _seemed_  straightforward, there were so many possibilities to what it could mean! Even more if you didn't have the knowledge I had, regarding this specific prophecy.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I sure feel like we're all treated like pawns," Percy said, breaking me from my musings.

"But Reyna's name means Queen," Annabeth added. "So it could mean her receiving a…blessing or something from the gods. Which could also relate to the second line about some kind of power."

Reyna's lips tightened, like she didn't like that, but she nodded as if agreeing with Annabeth.

"And the last line…" Hazel trailed off, eyes going to me.

I curled in on myself, glaring at one of the plates of food in front of me.

"Don't." I couldn't bear to see their faces. I couldn't bear to talk about the fact that I  _had_  been considering bringing Luke back with my voice ever since Gaea had introduced me to it.

I knew some, if not all, could work out what the line meant. I wasn't sure  _all_  of them had seen or experienced the full(ish) power of my voice, but I knew a majority of them had. Even if they hadn't, I was a daughter of Apollo who was sitting with a guitar in her hand. There wasn't much to make of that last line of the prophecy.

It was hard enough knowing that Luke wasn't a good person, and despite all he'd done, I found I still loved him. It was worse when I had to face the reality that no one else around me liked him. To see the looks of disgust, hatred, hurt, and betrayal on their faces was heartbreaking, to say the least.

I wanted to take some pain meds, for my prickles were growing worse with all this worrying, but moving would only draw attention to me.

"We should start preparing anyway," Nico finally said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I have to go make a call—er, I mean, get my baseball bat." Hedge started to stand.

"I'm going to need some rest before the first passage." Nico stood too. "We'll meet at the statue at sunset."

Before either of them could make it very far, though, another IM started to flicker to life in the middle of the circle again. Everyone froze, and I could feel the dread settle over our group. There couldn't be more, could there?

"Dan!" I exclaimed, when the IM cleared enough. I was glad it wasn't Chiron with more bad news; my heart fell into a steadier rhythm. The reception for this IM seemed stronger than the last. The picture was still fuzzy, but it wasn't cutting out.

My heart dropped, and the pin-pricks burst slightly, when I realized that, though it wasn't Chiron, that didn't necessarily mean there wasn't bad news.

Dan looked exhausted and worry lines had been etched into his face, aging him. Octavian was currently recruiting  _monsters_  and  _murderers_ , and surrounding Camp Half-Blood,  _my home_ ,  _my family_.

"What's wrong?" I asked, sitting forward holding my breath, hoping everyone was okay. Well, as okay as they could be.

Dan managed a weary smile. "Just the usual." He stepped back to reveal what I thought, at first, was the inside of the Hermes cabin. It took me a moment of staring at the bunkbeds that were pushed flush against the wall to realize it was the Apollo cabin. Except, it  _looked_  like the Hermes cabin because there were kids crowded on the floor, lying on mattresses, bundled in blankets and sleeping bags. All the kids I could see were at least 13 years or younger, and then my siblings.

Dan obscured my view again, crossing his arms and lowering his voice. "The Roman camp is recruiting," he said. No one stopped him even though we all knew what he was going to say. "They have us surrounded—the pegasi we have left have been grounded." Dan glanced back at the kids on the floor of our cabin. None of them were asleep. When he turned to face me again, he looked about ready to collapse. "They're scared. We all are. I thought…maybe if you sang to them…that would at least help them get some rest."

I was nodding before he'd even finished speaking. "Of course." I sat back, back against the rock and repositioned my guitar as Dan stepped back and went to sit on one of the mattresses nearest him. Viola climbed into his lap. I didn't need a clear picture to know that she'd been crying.

I paused, thinking of a song, but also trying to dislodge the lump in my throat. I was so angry I could cry. I tried not to glare at Reyna, because it wasn't like it was her fault, but I wanted to blame someone. And there were only a handful of Romans nearby.

Recently, thanks to Leo's pretty rad setup on the  _Argo II_ , I had watched  _Coco_. It had made me feel like a kid again, and was probably the most colorful Disney movie I'd ever seen. It reminded me a lot of my mom, too. And I'll admit, I sobbed like a baby basically throughout the entire movie—the colors, my heritage, my mom, the story, it had all been emotionally overwhelming in good and bad ways.

Now, my mom hadn't really let us embrace our heritage as much as I would have liked, but I think she'd done it to protect Dan and I from as much racism and prejudice as possible. (As if that really mattered in the grand scheme of things, but I appreciated the sentiment behind it—it reminded me of her optimism, like she believed we could live relatively normal lives, despite being half god.) I mean, sure, she knew how to cook authentic Mexican food, and for special occasions we went out to restaurants that served authentic Mexican food.

But she hadn't taught us Spanish (though, I did pick up bits and pieces here and there because she knew it and would sometimes slip into it or say certain words in Spanish), and we didn't celebrate Mexican holidays. I think part of it was due to the fact that she had fallen in love with, and then had a child with, a Greek deity. I imagine it's a little hard to be monotheistic and know the Greek gods exist. (Not impossible, I'm sure, but still, I'd imagine you'd start questioning certain things about your life and your beliefs.)

Anyway, I was a blubbering mess by the end of the movie. While "Remember Me" was a lullaby already, and a beautiful song, I had really enjoyed the end song, "Proud Corazón," and I could easily turn it into a lullaby with a single guitar.

I started the song out the same as in the movie, but kept my voice soft and slowed the tempo when I got to the bridge of the song (and, of course, kept it at the slower tempo through the rest of the song).

As it usually did, the IM strengthened as I sang. I think what was more astonishing was the fact that the cicadas had quieted as soon as I'd started singing, so all that could be heard  _was_  my voice and my guitar.

As always, by the end of the song, the children were asleep. Even my siblings had given into slumber. Dan was the only one who'd forced himself to stay away, but I could see he was ready to collapse. He could barely keep his eyes open. Even so, he carefully set Viola down on the mattress and approached the IM again.

"Thank you," he murmured.

"Always," I breathed, the gravity of our situation hitting me again. "Stay safe."

Dan's face darkened. "You too."

"You know—" I tried, but the rest of the words got caught in my throat.

Dan's face cleared slightly, a small smile pulling at his lips. He nodded. "We know." Then he brushed his hand through the IM, and it dissolved.

It was utterly humiliating to break down into tears in front of everyone, but I couldn't find the energy to get up and move, to walk all the way back to the  _Argo II_. Having to force my prickles away, thinking about the prophecy, worrying about my siblings,  _my home_ —it was all too much.

Instead, I leaned over my guitar, bowed my head, and hit my eyes behind my hand. I tried to keep my sobs to a minimum and make the least amount of noise as possible, but my shaking shoulders and sniffling gave me away, I'm sure.

Audrey II wriggled her way into my lap, despite my guitar still there and gently brushed her face against my cheek, catching some of my tears. I felt someone's gentle hand on my shoulder. I flinched at first, because it was my left shoulder, but when I looked over through the corners of my eyes and saw Nico, who'd sat back down next to me, I was comforted. (He wouldn't ask questions if he had any.) I was glad he hadn't gone back to the ship yet. I was grateful he was willing to be vulnerable enough to show the others his caring side.

Someone, at some point, handed me a box of tissues. Finally, the tears stopped coming so fast, and I blew my nose for the last time. I was sure my eyes and nose were extremely red. I couldn't meet anyone's gaze.

"If I could apologize," Percy started. "On behalf of Camp Jupiter…"

I shook my head and let out a heavy sigh. "It wouldn't make a difference." I told him truthfully. I forced myself to meet his eyes. "But, thank you." I ignored the fact that none of the proper Romans said anything after that.

Nico gave my shoulder a squeeze. I looked over at him and nodded. He gave me a small smile before standing and heading back toward the ship. Hedge fell into step next to him (I guess he'd stayed to listen to me sing, too). Heaving a sigh, I stood too, my guitar at my back. Audrey II settled around my neck, her rumbling and added warmth soothing for my emotions and my chronic pain. I followed Nico and Hedge back to the ship, straggling behind, needing to be alone with my thoughts for a little bit.

When I got to the ship, I opted to stay out on the deck to let the sun's heat wash overme and soothe my headache from crying,  _and_  my pin-prick. When I felt I'd had enough sun, I went below-decks, down to the sick bay to (try to) take nap until sunset.

* * *

My crying spell had worn me out enough that I fell asleep faster than I thought I would. Of course, that didn't mean much since I was pulled back into Tartarus as soon as I fell unconscious. Honestly, I didn't know how I functioned anymore.

Audrey II woke me up once again and I laid on the cot, trembling, trying to get my breathing under control and push away the pin-pricks. I didn't feel particularly rested, but I wasn't going to be getting anymore sleep, so I decided I'd better get up and pack what little I'd brought on board with me.

Slowly, I sat up, prepared to take some more pain meds, but paused when I saw Percy standing in the doorway. How long had he been there?

"Hey," I said, getting over my surprise and carefully standing, strapping my sword to my waist. "What brings you down here?" I started toward the supply cabinet, but froze again and looked back at Percy, automatically reaching for my sword. "Is something wrong? Are you hurt? Is everyone all right?"

"Whoa, whoa, it's all fine," Percy said, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "Nothing's wrong. I'm not hurt. I just wanted to…come down and say…thank you before you left."

I opened the cabinet door and pulled out the bottle of pain meds. "Oh?"

Percy suddenly looked a little embarrassed, though I couldn't understand why. "Just for…for what you did. With Nico. For the rest of my friends."

I quickly popped two pills and chased them with water. "I've done a lot of things, you're going to have to be more specific."

Percy laughed, startling me. "I guess I could've been more specific—I wanted to thank you for helping Nico lead the crew to Epirus. For getting them to the Doors of Death."

"Oh, it…it was no problem. I mean…I was happy to help." Now I was feeling embarrassed.

"How did you end up on the ship?" His eyes darkened and his voice lowered. "Why were you…how did you end up in…Tartarus?"

I froze, trying to think of a convincing lie, but not pause too long because I had no doubt Percy would notice.

"Oh, well…" I swallowed hard as I went through everything that'd led me here. "I…communicated with Nico right before he, uh, fell into Tartarus." Not a lie. "When I didn't hear back from him for a few days, I got worried, so I…snuck out of camp to go find him." I could tell Percy had more follow-up questions, but I continued, not giving him time to ask. "When we were brought topside, Earthborn split us up. Gaea, she—" I broke off, trying to think of a better way to word this without revealing she had offered me a place on her side. "I don't know, I guess she was being cruel and decided to have me face the bane of Apollo."

Percy looked at me like he couldn't believe I was alive. I was just glad he seemed to have forgotten his other questions. "And you beat him?"

I shrugged, feeling uncomfortable under the look Percy was giving me. It wasn't bad, it was almost awestruck, and impressed. But for some reason, I didn't like it.

"Apollo showed up and helped," I continued. "Then he led me to the ship. In the usual godly roundabout way, of course."

"Apollo?"

I nodded, wondering why he emphasized that part. "Yep."

"You don't call him, 'Dad'?"

I tensed at his question. "We may be blood, but I don't consider him remotely close family." Percy opened his mouth to say something else, but I didn't like where this conversation was headed. "Look, I should really start preparing to head off. Thanks for coming down, and thanking me."

I could tell Percy wanted to say more, but he took the hint and nodded. "Right, uh, I'll let you get to that."

Once Percy had left, I let out a breath. I really wish I knew where I stood with that boy. And his girlfriend. They were friendly enough this morning, but there was still a lot of air to clear around us, and I always felt like I was walking on eggshells around them. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and for us to either work through all the confusing shit that mostly evolved around Luke, or to have a falling out with them.

* * *

Audrey II would be coming with us. I kind of wanted her to stay with the crew, but for one, I needed her for my nightmares and PTSD. For two, she was just as safe traveling with us as he was traveling on the  _Argo II_. I didn't really like any of my options.

Thankfully, Leo helped make things slightly easier. He was letting me take one of the plates from the mess hall so I could feed her. And he'd made a leash of sorts (that wrapped around her chest, rather than her neck). With the help of his Archimedes sphere, he made the latch on the collar and the hook on the leash's belt attracted to each other (it's the best way I can explain it). That way, if we needed to leave in a hurry, I could throw the hook at her leash and they'd snap together, saving time. This also allowed her to roam freely the rest of the time. I wasn't going to use it regularly, it was really only so that I could keep a solid hold of her while we shadow-traveled.

Her being a dragon also meant she could take care of herself, but that didn't make me any less anxious for her safety.

Packing up was quick and easy—I only had what I could carry in the backpack I'd picked up in Siena. I still had those souvenirs I'd gotten in Siena, and vaguely wondered if I'd make it back  _to_  CHB to give them to my siblings. Would CHB even be there by the end of this? Would my siblings even be  _alive_?

Strapping on my armor was quick and easy, since it'd basically become my second skin during my time with Luke, and here on the  _Argo II_. I attached the belt to Audrey II's collar and she settled on my shoulders. I took a few more pain pills, then we headed out of the sickbay and to the Athena Parthenos, still on the hill.

Finding a way to wear my backpack, a quiver of arrows,  _and_  my guitar was a little difficult. Once again, Leo helped me with that (I swear, he thought of everything). He'd modified the right side of my backpack to basically be a quiver attached to the side. With that solved, I could easily adjust the length of the strap on my guitar, and carefully fit it over my backpack and arrows.

I joined Reyna and Hedge, who were also dressed in armor, with full backpacks on their backs. Nico had tied ropes around the pedestal of the Athena Parthenos, with a halter that went over his shoulders like backpack straps would. There were three extra loose ropes, I assumed, for us. Percy and Annabeth were both there.

Reyna stepped forward and gave Annabeth a hug, which made me wonder if I was expected to give her a hug, as well.

"We will succeed," Reyna said as they pulled away.

"I know you will." Annabeth smiled. I think I could slip away without an obligated hug.

"Yeah, don't worry," Hedge added, shouldering his baseball bat. "I'm going to get to camp and see my baby! Uh, I mean I'm going to get this baby to camp!" He patted the leg of the Parthenos with his free hand. That was a weird slip.

"All right," Nico said. "Grab the ropes, please. Here we go."

I took a deep breath, making sure Audrey II's leash was wrapped tightly around my wrist and that I had a good grip on the end before stepping up to the statue and wrapping one of the free ropes with my free hand. Reyna and Hedge followed. I took another deep breath to brace myself as I felt the air grow colder and we were pulled into the shadows.

* * *

Okay, so  _technically_ , I've been sworn to secrecy, but since they hadn't made me swear on the Styx, I won't be facing any sort of divine punishment telling you now. Besides, it's crucial and an important part of my story, so it would be a disservice to not include what happened in the town of our first jump.

We landed in Albania, a country northwest of Greece. It was some large clearing/meadow in the middle of a forest, so I wasn't sure of any other specifics. The sun was still just setting, the trees casting long shadows over the clearing. The sky was a beautiful color, but I found myself scanning the edge of the meadow, expecting monsters to appear within the trees' shadowy depths.

Nico immediately collapsed. I went to catch him and help him sit down more gently, flinching at his aura, which radiated death. The grass around him withered and browned. Some small bones of dead animals surfaced (which Audrey II flew off to go sniff and play with), as well as hands of dead people, clawing their way to the surface.

Reyna looked sufficiently spooked, but hid it well, and focused her attention on Nico, who hadn't quite passed out. Hedge pulled out a canteen of nectar. I coaxed some of it down Nico's throat, but was afraid of giving him too much. It didn't seem to do much by way of helping him recover, either.

"Don't say it," Nico said, startling me. My eyebrows furrowed. "You were frowning like you were doubting my abilities."

"I'm just worried about you," I muttered.

"You don't need to be."

"He still looks a little sickly," Reyna commented, not giving me time to reply to Nico. "If you're worried about him ingesting too much nectar, why don't we try unicorn draught?"

"What's that?" I asked, capping the canteen and turning my gaze to Reyna, who was digging in her bag for her own canteen.

"It's sanctified water from the Little Tiber that surrounds Camp Jupiter mixed with powdered unicorn horn," she explained, helping Nico drink some. Its effects were immediate and noticeably better than the nectar. The meadow stayed withered, but the skeletons—humans and animals alike—that had risen immediately collapsed and sunk back into the ground. Audrey II squawked and searched for her lost friend, returning to me dejectedly when her friend didn't reappear.

"That seemed to do the trick," I said. Nico still looked bad, but at least he stopped radiating the aura of death so strongly. I could tell he was fighting to stay awake, but I was unsure why. "You can rest now. We'll be here."

Nico sighed and nodded, just barely able to take off his jacket and wad it up into a pillow before he was out and snoring. I settled back against the pedestal, letting out my own sigh. Reyna settled down in front of me, and Hedge to my far left. Despite it being evening, it was still relatively warm. It helped a little with my chronic pain, but because of the general stress of the situation, my prickles were acting up.

Hedge dug into his pack, which looked like it was enchanted to be like a Leo's tool belt or Mary Poppins' bag, and pulled out three cheese and avocado sandwiches. Reyna and I took one each. I nibbled at the edge, not feeling particularly hungry, but knowing I should probably eat. It helped that it was a relatively light meal. It was silent between the three of us, awkwardly so.

I still wasn't sure what Reyna thought of me. Maybe she'd never had a chance to talk to Jason? She hadn't minded me joining her on the quest, so she trusted me to some extent. I wasn't sure what she thought about my…singing skills, and maybe she didn't  _want_  to talk about it. Leo was really the only one who openly talked about the power of my voice (and I guess Jason, but that was only once).

She didn't really strike me as the type to make small-talk, either. That most likely contributed to our silence.

Hedge inhaled his sandwich before he started setting up a parameter a few meters out, and what looked to be a pretty primitive alarm system, but I trusted his judgement. Despite him having a proclivity for violence, he was a good satyr from what I remember of him during my first few years at CHB.

Though, none of us looked particularly tired. Still, one couldn't be too cautious in the Ancient Lands, I supposed.

Audrey II had settled down in my lap and was snoozing easily. I wished I could've fallen asleep like that. I was starting to feel tired, even though I hadn't done anything except watch as the shadows grew in length before slowly fading as the sky darkened. The moon, though not full, shined brightly over the entire clearing. But it only made the trees look worse, the shadows darker and deeper.

I kept scanning the edge of the clearing, my nerves on fire. It reminded me too much of Tartarus—the inky darkness that you couldn't see anything through. My heart was going a mile a minute, unhealthy amounts of adrenaline pumping through my body. My prickles spiked, not helping anything.

Audrey II sensed my changing emotions and woke, nudging her head under my trembling hand. I petted her a few times, but was too caught up in watching the trees. She moved to my shoulders, wrapping herself around my neck and licking my cheek, rumbling.

I tried to remind myself to take deep breaths and try not to jump to the worst case scenario.

"You should try to sleep," Hedge said, making me jump.

I made a face. "I'm not…"

"You look exhausted, cupcake," he interrupted. I frowned at his insistence to use his general nickname on me. "At least rest your eyes. We've got four between us." He gestured between him and Reyna with his thumb.

"He's right," Reyna said.

I wasn't entirely convinced, not because I didn't trust them, but because my brain was buzzing with memories of Tartarus. I was just barely able to hold them back, which is the only reason I was still able to sit with them and wasn't up pacing the edge of the forest, listening for sounds of possible monsters.

Even so, I pulled my guitar and backpack off my back, using my backpack as a pillow, and settling the guitar next to me. I took a few pain meds before I shifted so that I was lying on my side, back facing Hedge and Reyna. I kept my eyes open, scanning what parts of the edge of the meadow I could, and absentmindedly stroked the body of my guitar, letting my fingers run over the design Hazel had painted, and thus was slightly raised.

Audrey II had sat beside me until I had settled, before squeezing her way under my arm and curling up near my stomach. Her warmth was soothing, as was the repetitive motion I was doing with my hand.

I don't know how much time had passed, but eventually, I fell asleep.

This time, because I'd been thinking about it before I slept, I was almost immediately pulled into Tartarus. Nothing seemed to be waking me up. That was until something sharp bit down on my hand. Not enough to draw blood, but enough to wake me up.

I bolted up with a gasp, looking around for the danger. I was still half in Tartarus. There was also something growling near me. I couldn't see Audrey II, but she was growling at something, and blowing fire. I struggled to push away my chronic pain so I could focus on the more dangerous situation.

I scanned my surroundings for the threat when my eyes locked with a pair of ruby red ones. Fear shot through me, and my prickles burst. Pushing it aside as best I could, I scrambled to my feet, grabbing my backpack as my bow spiraled out from my finger. I pointed my arrow at the hellhound, ready to let it fly when I noticed a glint of something gold.

I repositioned my aim slightly higher, to where I'd seen the glint only to come face-to-face with Reyna. She'd drawn her gold sword and was glaring at me fiercely. It reminded me a lot like Annabeth's expression in battle.

Then I was confused, but I didn't lower my arrow. I couldn't understand why Reyna was looking at me like I was a threat. And why a hellhound was standing in front of her, growling at me! How had it even gotten through Hedge's perimeter? Where was Hedge, anyway?

I looked back at the hellhound when it growled, aiming my arrow once again at it, but started when I realized I wasn't facing a hellhound. In fact, I was facing two metal dogs—one gold and one silver. Both with glowing, ruby red eyes.

"What do you think you're doing, cupcake!" Hedge's voice shouted to my left. I almost pointed my arrow at him, but kept it on the metal dogs (not that my arrows would do damage, though).

I wasn't sure who Hedge had been addressing, but without taking her eyes off me, Reyna answered, "My dogs don't trust her, so neither do I."

Hedge swung his bat in the space between my arrow and the dogs, who continued to stare at me, ears flattened, the occasional growl escaping their bared teeth. If they had hair, their hackles would most certainly be raised.

"Now's not the time for in-fighting! We've only just begun this quest. The prophecy stated she be here." Hedge said, trying to edge his way between me and the dogs, but I wasn't budging, keeping my arrow trained on the dogs and trying  _not_  to panic and hallucinate them as hellhounds. Audrey II flew around the dogs, shooting fire, but they didn't even flinch.

Reyna's eyes were burning holes in me at this point. "She's hiding something."

My blood ran cold, the prickles bursting so strong, I struggled to push them away. Once I had, the coldness was waiting for me. Could they really sense that I had an agreement with Gaea? Were they magical? They didn't look particularly magical? Of course, how had they even gotten here? As far as I knew, Reyna hadn't traveled with two additional metal dogs.

It didn't really matter now, there were more pressing matters. Fighting my better judgement, I lifted my gaze to meet Reyna's. Her stare was just as bad as the dogs'. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The silver dog barked and stepped forward. I stepped back, wondering if my arrows  _could, maybe_  do damage. Hedge swung his bat again, forcing the dog back.

"They can detect when someone is lying." Reyna shifted her stance, gripping the hilt of her sword. Hedge stopped trying to wedge himself between me and the dogs and looked at me, a question on his face.

Oh, this was bad.

I tried to quickly respond to her, afraid if I took too long, she'd know I was fabricating a lie, even without her dogs. Before I could answer, however, someone else spoke.

"What's going on?" Nico had woken up. I didn't dare take my eyes off Reyna. She was ready for battle. "Reyna, what are you  _doing_?"

Apparently, Reyna didn't feel the same about me, because she broke her gaze to look at Nico. "She's hiding something, Nico. Lying about something, and I'm getting to the bottom of it."

" _What_?" Nico moved to stand in front of me, pushing aside my bow and arrow, forcing me to drop both of them. Wanting some way to defend myself should it come to that, I let my bow spiral back onto my finger and put my arrow back into its quiver. I dropped my backpack and unsheathed my sword.

"If she's going to stay with us on this quest, there will be  _no_  secrets," Reyna explained. " _Now_ , please move—out—of—the way."

Nico stood his ground. In fact, he stepped even more in front of me, forcing me to keep my sword pointed at the ground. He was about as tall as I was, so this was pretty effective. But I wasn't going to let him get hurt because of my decisions. And Reyna was on the warpath. If she was anything like Annabeth, nothing and no one would stand in her way.

"You're making a mistake," Nico said in a calm voice. "We all have secrets. And I trust Tori with my life."

"This quest is too important, and I won't let anything or anyone impede us," Reyna retorted. "My dogs don't like being anywhere near the Athena Parthenos, but as soon as I called for them, they jumped in front of me and began growling at  _her_." She punctuated this with a glare at me before looking back at Nico. "They think she's dangerous, and I want to know why."

"Reyna—" I tried.

" _Don't_  you dare speak unless it is about what you are hiding," she snapped.

My face flushed. "I'm not part of your Legion! I'm not even  _Roman_! You can't give me an order." Her eyes flared, but I barreled on before she could respond. "I have  _no idea_  what you're talking about, so  _back off_." You'd think I'd be used to lying so much.

Her dogs didn't like my declaration. One of them either had had enough, or Reyna had given some kind of silent command, because the gold one snarled and lunged at me.

Both Nico and Hedge yelled, but since I'd been hyperaware of both of her dogs this entire time because they reminded me too much of hellhounds, I reacted just as quick.

I dropped my sword and stepped in front of Nico, simultaneously shoving him out of the way. I lifted my left arm to shield my face as the golden dog flew toward me, burying its teeth in my arm. I can't remember if I screamed, but my arm exploded with acidic pain and I fell back from the force of the impact.

Red and black clouded my vision. My ears rang so loud I couldn't hear anything else. My chronic pain spiked, and I was sucked back into a horrible cocktail of Tartarus and the Labyrinth, with a dash of the night my mom was attacked and murdered by a hellhound. All I could do was lay there, unaware of my surroundings, and letting the memories, the emotions of my memories, all-encompassing fear overtaking all of my senses.

Something started licking my nose. It was such an odd and out-of-place sensation, I blinked and instinctively tried to pull away. Whatever it was persisted, until my vision cleared and I saw the big eyes of Audrey II. She made a pitiful noise, and if my eyes weren't deceiving me, she looked scared.

I pushed away the pin-pricks as best I could and blinked away the black that was trying to encroach on my vision. My arm throbbed painfully. I was lying on my right side in a position that made it look like I might be sleeping. The ringing in my ears had quieted, but my ragged, unsteady breathing took its place.

Audrey II edge closer, licking my nose again and nudging my face with her snout. I wanted to tell her I was okay, but I didn't feel it at all. Would the dogs sense this and attack me again? Were they even still here?

A thrill of panic shot through me at that thought, but I was still in too much pain and dazed I couldn't find the energy to sit up and do anything. Instead, I tried to look around and gather my bearings. Through my hazy vision, I saw Nico standing over me, facing Reyna, I think. Hedge was out of my field of vision currently.

I think Nico was yelling at Reyna, but I wasn't comprehending much sound other than my breathing.

Carefully, I moved my right hand, avoiding bumping my left arm, toward Nico. He was close enough that I could grasp at the cuff of his jeans if I extended my arm fully. Even the effort to that was exhausting. As soon as I gave a gentle tug, a skeleton hand burst from the ground and grasped my wrist. I would have been startled had I not still been in shock.

Instead, I stared at it not quite comprehending why that had happened. Then, just as fast as it appeared, it disappeared, letting go of my wrist and sinking back into the ground.

Nico was there, then, filling my vision. His brown eyes were watery and filled with worry. He kneeled down, one of his hands coming up to grasp my shoulder. His lips were moving, but I was still having trouble comprehending other sounds.

"Don't get mad at Reyna," I mumbled when it looked like he wasn't speaking. "She's just scared."

Nico said something else. He looked indignant. His hand gripped my shoulder harder. But I was still in a daze, probably going into shock, or too stuck in the past, and still couldn't hear him. When it became apparent I couldn't hear him, or wasn't going to respond, Nico helped me sit up. Someone else—Hedge—helped move me closer to the statue so I could lean on its pedestal.

Nico looked worried now at my despondence. I wanted to tell him that it would be all right, that  _I_  would be all right, but my voice still had not come back. I felt like a child again who'd just been introduced to the world of gods and monsters. I felt thirteen, after I'd first come to camp—numb, still grieving, only to be attacked by a hellhound later that very same week. And Luke.

Oh, Luke…

* * *

I shot up, a cry on my lips.

I didn't recognize my surroundings. This wasn't my home. This wasn't my bed. I started to panic, tears prickling at the edges of my eyes, my heart pounding in my chest.

A warm hand gently gripped my arm and my head snapped to my right.

"Dan," I breathed, relaxing slightly now that I knew someone in my unfamiliar surroundings. Pain shot through my neck though, and my free hand came to cradle it, only to meet gauze. "Ow."

"Do you remember what happened?" A different voice, coming from the end of my bed. I looked to see…oh, Chiron. It all came flooding back to me—my mom, those awful nights in the hospital, this camp, the hellhound. The old centaur was currently in wheelchair form. Probably for good reason, too. Had I noticed him sooner, I probably would've freaked out more. As it was, I broke down in tears anyway. Crying hurt my neck, but I couldn't stop the sobs from escaping my throat.

Dan's grip on my arm tightened and I instinctively turned into him. His warmth brought me comfort.

By the time I was done, I'd exhausted myself and fell asleep. It was restless, though, what with being reminded of that horrid night. I had nightmares. At some point, I remember hearing Chiron's calming voice explaining to someone my condition.

"It was a small nick, but hit a vital artery," Chiron said. "Her wound is still healing, thus. When she speaks, it pulls at her wound. So it would be best for her to refrain from speaking too much until it heals."

It really felt more like a fever dream. Someone else responded, but I was already falling unconscious again.

When I finally came around, not feeling like death, it was early morning the next day. I was still in the infirmary. Dan was there, still in his chair, snoring softly. The sun shone through the windows, and I could hear birds chirping outside.

On a bedside table, next to my cot, was a glass of water. I carefully sat up and downed the whole thing. As I was setting it back down on the table, Dan stirred. He still had bags under his eyes, and his neck was not going to be happy with him, having sat in that position all night, but he looked relieved to see me awake.

"Ah, good morning," Chiron said from the doorway of the infirmary. He was in his wheelchair, once again.

I nodded and Dan mumbled a response.

"You have a visitor," he said, before wheeling further into the room, making room for the blond kid who'd come and killed the hellhound, the one with the beautiful blue eyes. My face flushed when I realized I said that to him, but he seemed more nervous than anything. Hopefully, because I imagine it was a whirlwind after I'd passed out, he wouldn't even remember.

Dan shot up from his seat. "Go away!" I started and looked up at my brother in shock. He wasn't usually one to get angry or yell, he was generally a pretty easy-going person. I'd never seen him so angry before.

"Now, Daniel," Chiron said calmly.

My brother ignored him, glaring at the blond boy who wouldn't have been much older than Dan and I. "You were supposed to protect her! Where were you?"

The boy looked startled and hesitant to come in any farther. "That's what…well, what I wanted to come in this morning for." He shifted those blue eyes to me. "I wanted to apologize. I…I got distracted. I looked away for a only a second—"

"Yeah, well, a second is all it took!" Dan cut him off, his hands fisting at his sides.

"I know," the boy closed his eyes, looking pained. "I should've known better." They opened again, meeting my eyes. "And I'm sorry."

I might have been as mad as Dan, honestly, because that  _was_  his job. That was what he was there for, and he'd lost focus. But the look on his face, the pain in his eyes spoke of something worse. He looked remorseful for what he had let happened, but it was magnified, as if he'd been reminded of something similar that'd happened to him. Only, the end result of whatever had happened hadn't been so good.

Dan was about to say something else, but I reached up to put a hand on his arm. His eyes snapped to me, and his features softened. I frowned when he shook his head ever so slightly.

I looked back at the boy. "I forgive you." Ugh, it sucked speaking, but I wanted him to know in words, not just a kind look and a nod or some shit.

"Tori," Dan tried, but I cut him a look. He sat back down and pouted, crossing his arms. The boy ventured closer.

"I'm Luke." He held out his hand. I smiled and took it.

"Tori."

* * *

I whimpered and instinctively pulled my arm away as the wounds from Reyna's dog stung. It didn't get very far, though, because someone had it in a firm grip. I looked to my left to see Hedge, who had a canteen of nectar in his free hand. I winced again, but bit my lip as he poured more nectar over my wounds. I took a moment to also push away the prickles as best I could.

"Tori?" Nico asked, his voice strained but hopeful.

I blinked slowly and shifted my eyes from Hedge to him. Nico released a breath and visibly relaxed.

"You weren't responding for a while," he explained. "I was…worried something might have happened."

"Just…just a little shock." My voice was low, hoarse. Nico quickly grabbed a canteen of water and handed it to me. I was thirstier than I thought, drinking all of it before I had a mind to remember we needed to ration our supplies. "Um…sorry."

"We have others." Nico took the canteen back and capped it. Hedge began wrapping my arm up. My wounds throbbed dully. "Besides, we'll be making another jump soon. We can restock then."

My eyes scanned the meadow. "Where's—" I broke off, spotting Reyna easily. She was standing on the very edge of Hedge's alarm perimeter, several meters out. Her dogs were still with her, growling low in their chest and pacing back and forth in front of her. She had her sword sheathed and a good poker face.

The air grew colder and I looked back at Nico. His expression had darkened.

"She's dropping it for the present moment, but she still wants answers," he muttered. "I tried to convince her she can trust you, but she trusts her dogs more."

"Maybe the prophecy was wrong," I said, looking out toward the tree line in front of me. "Maybe I'm not meant to be on this quest with you."

"Prophecies are never wrong," Nico deadpanned.

"I'm not going to lay myself bare before a stranger just because her stupid dogs are telling her I have something to hide."

"And we're not asking you to, cupcake," Hedge said gruffly as he finished up my gauze. I was shocked he was standing up for me. Not that I thought he  _didn't_  trust me, it just seemed like our relationship didn't go very deep other then we resided on the  _Argo II_  together for a while. And that I may have seen him around camp in my earlier years.

"But that leaves us at a stalemate," Nico said. "She could refuse to continue on this quest with us, knowing that we wouldn't be able to leave without her because only a  _Roman_  can deliver the statue to Camp Half-Blood."

"No time like the present to resolve it, then, right?" I looked at Reyna, giving neither Nico, nor Hedge, time to respond. "Let's talk," I called.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, not sure how I'm feeling about this one…. Apologies for it taking longer than expected. I have plans for what'll happen for the rest of the story, but getting from point to point is a bit more difficult than anticipated. Such is writing. Also, I'm still relatively busy this summer, and trying to balance my time between school work and other fun stuff (like reading and working on other writing projects). Such is life.
> 
> Not too much to say. I hope it isn't…underwhelming. As per usual, since I've been working on this for weeks(?) now, I have gone numb and can no longer tell if it's got that emotional punch.
> 
> Title is taken from "Proud Corazón." I watched Coco recently, if you couldn't tell, and cried like a baby. It's such a beautiful (both visually and story-wise) movie!
> 
> As always, thank you for patiently sticking with me to the end (of the line), and I hope you enjoyed! Comments are very much appreciated! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight


	44. The Boy Who Lit the Fire in the First Place

Reyna stared at me, eyes narrowed, before she started forward. Her dogs also stood, and walked at her heel. I tensed and pressed myself against the statue, my prickles bursting. Audrey II, who was curled in my lap, but not rumbling contentedly as she usually did, hissed and blew a small column of fire in Reyna's direction.

"The dogs stay," I said, gently petting Audrey II so she wouldn't try and attack Reyna. "They stay. Right where they are." Once upon a time I had liked dogs, even imagined one with the unachievable life I'd wanted to have with Luke. Now? Not so much. I liked cats too, but now they were slowly becoming my favorite animal. When Reyna paused and glared at me, her hands fisting at her side, I cut her my own glare. "They stay or we don't talk."

Reyna contemplated this for a long moment before turning toward them and giving them a command in Latin. They sat, but one of them whined. Their facial expressions didn't change, and their eyes stayed glowing ruby red, but they sure seemed hurt at her command. I didn't care much since one of them had just attacked me. Had they been living, breathing dogs, I probably would've felt at least a little bad.

When she turned and came over, she sat down across from me, which meant that her dogs were behind her. She sat cross-legged, her back straight, eyes still as fierce as if she was in battle. I think she was trying to intimidate me, but I'd seen much worse glares before.

Despite her dogs not being right there, I knew she'd most likely look to them in order to tell if I was lying about what I was going to talk to her about. It was clear how much she put her faith in them, considering what'd just happened a few moments ago. However, there was an inherent flaw in such unwavering belief in her dogs. It was dangerous to rely so heavily on such things, even if they were part machine and part magic. If one genuinely believed they were telling the truth, well then, her dogs had no reason to tell her one was lying.

Nico and Hedge stayed sitting next to me, and their cautious, defensive, and tense stares did only to set my nerves on edge. My pin-pricks spiked even more, but I fought to keep them under control long enough to try and appease Reyna.

"So are you going to tell me what I want to know, or are you going to keep lying to me?" she asked.

"I don't think I am," I responded.

Reyna started to stand. "Then I don't think we have anything more to discuss—"

"Are you sure?" I asked, inclining my head so I could meet her eyes.

She cut me a look. "What do you mean?"

"I never said I would lie to you again," I told her. "Just that I wasn't going to tell you what you want to know"—Reyna huffed and got ready to say something, but I continued—"just what you  _need_  to know."

Reyna scoffed and sat back down. "You've the audacity to even think you know what I want?"

"Not want," I corrected, "need. And you don't need to know." I paused and Reyna glanced at her dogs. They didn't growl. Though, their eyes were fixed on me. Also not helping my nerves or chronic pain. "I can promise you what it is I'm hiding is nothing bad." Another glance at her dogs. I could feel the air change to shock when her dogs didn't react to my declaration. "The details are irrelevant. The outcome will not jeopardize your mission to reunite the camps." I waited again and the dogs remained like statues. Reyna spun back to face me, her mouth open, but I spoke before she could. "Nor will it jeopardize the Second Great Prophecy. Or, rather, as you refer to it: The Prophecy of Seven." One more look at her dogs, and still nothing.

I could tell that I hadn't completely convinced Reyna. Her eyes were still cautious when she looked back at me. But I think I had won this round. It looked like she was going to drop the subject. For now. How long that would last, I wasn't entirely certain. As long as we could continue on this quest, then I would take it.

"Fine," she finally said, her voice cutting through the growing tension (mostly coming from Nico and Hedge. Still.). She took another breath, but I knew that look. I had seen it far too many times.

"I know," I said before she could continue her thought.

Her eyebrows furrowed fiercely. "I wasn't finished."

"You were going to explain how you would continue on this quest. And then threaten me so I won't step out of line, or something to that effect."

I really should've just kept my big mouth shut. But I was tired of taking people's mistrust of me in silence, as if I deserved it—my own, personal form of punishment. The gods had already punished me enough. I didn't need to be adding to it just because I loathed myself.

"Many don't trust you, then." It wasn't a question, her voice was still just as sharp.

So much for not laying myself bare for a stranger.

"What do you know of the Second Titan War from the Greek's side?" I asked.

Reyna narrowed her eyes at me. "Just that Kronos attempted to take Manhattan. And Percy fought him."

"Did he also tell you that Kronos was my boyfriend?"

In retrospect, I really could've worded that better.

Nico barked a laugh before slapping his hand over his mouth and dissolving into a fit of silent giggles. Hedge was coughing, trying to mask his chuckles. Reyna's head whipped around to look at her dogs, who didn't react. Then she whipped back to face me again, her eyes were wide with shock and disbelief.

At the time, I didn't understand any of their reactions. Reyna's shock seemed a little too severe for the information I'd just divulged to her. And why had Nico and Hedge started laughing? It was a serious conversation.

"I don't understand," I said, looking between Nico and Hedge. Nico was red in the face, lying on his side, still trying to contain his guffaws and only kind of succeeding. "What's funny?"

Hedge coughed-laughed and fixed his baseball cap. His eyes were watering, his face rad. "I think"—giggle—"you need to"—cough, chuckle—"to be more specific there, cu-cupcake."

I gasped. "Oh."

To me it had been quite clear what I'd said, but thinking on it, my statement had two different meanings. One of them was that Luke, my boyfriend, had been possessed by (was) Kronos. The other was that Kronos, the titan,  _was_  my boyfriend (yuck). Of course, I had meant the former, but it seemed Reyna thought the latter.

"Kronos possessed my boyfriend," I clarified. Reyna immediately relaxed, heaving a sigh, though she made no noise as she did so.

"And your boyfriend…?" Reyna pressed, trying to gain some of her composure back. Nico and Hedge were finally calming down from their laughing spells, but Nico was gasping for air like he'd just been drowning. The mood had been completely ruined. And honestly, I didn't mind all that much.

But talking about Luke was always hard for me. My mouth dried up, my throat constricted, and my heart thumped loudly in my chest. My voice shrunk, "He's the one who set the wheels in motion that led to the Second Titan War."

Reyna's eyes widened again, but it was less extreme. "And you…joined him?"

"Not at first, no." I shook my head. "I know what he was planning was wrong. I sought him out to see if I could change his mind." I rolled my eyes, tears pricking the edges. "To save the boy who lit the fire, and all. But…" My voice lowered to a whisper. "Kronos tried to kill me. And instead, my life became leverage. Luke would continue to help Kronos as long as Kronos kept me alive. I stayed with Luke during that time. Until Kronos possessed him." Reyna opened her mouth and I held up my hand. "Before you say it, I know. A  _Roman_  would never have let that happen. A  _Roman_  would have sacrificed herself for the good of all.

"But I'm not Roman. I was in love. It's silly to say that out loud, I'm sure you don't understand. But it's the truth." Talking was becoming harder as more tears filled my eyes and a lump formed in my throat.

"You let a boy dictate the fate of the world?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Well it doesn't sound very romantic when you put it that way," I muttered. "But I suppose it's not untrue. In the end, he made the right decision. And I let him. He's dead now."

Reyna blinked like she was processing that, though I was unsure why. "And so…this is why people do not trust you?"

I nodded. "Listen, Reyna, I'm not saying that you have to trust me completely. But trust me enough so that we may finish this quest. I  _never_  believed that the titans were better. But that doesn't matter because, in the end, I let Luke bring the titans back."

"And you were not punished for what you did?" Reyna questioned.

I tutted. "Believe me, I was. I still am. But I'm not allowed to talk about it."

Reyna looked to her dogs once more. Satisfied she looked back at me and nodded. "Very well." She stood. "We should all eat. Nico, you look like you could use more sleep before we make the next jump."

Nico looked like he wanted to protest, but instead he gave a jaw-splitting yawn. "Okay," he mumbled, almost pouting.

I looked around at the meadow. The shadows of the trees behind us were growing longer. The sun was already setting? How long had I been out? Had we really talked for so long? Where had the time gone?

Hedge started digging in his backpack and I gently moved Audrey II from my lap. She rumbled in annoyance, but began to stretch. I slowly stood, my limbs stiff from sitting in the same position for so long.

Even with  _that_  problem solved, my stress levels were high, and so were my chronic pain levels. I took a few pain meds before Hedge handed out sandwiches. I got out the plate Leo had given me and fed Audrey II.

We ate in silence, equal parts awkward and tense. (I was glad to see Nico eating; practically inhaling his sandwich, really.) No one really knew what to say after all that, or how to break the ice. I wasn't particularly keen on being the one to do so just because I'd spoken enough with Reyna for a lifetime. (Part of it was definitely due to the fact that I was now projecting months of pent up anger and annoyance with how people at camp, and how some of the crew members of the  _Argo II_ , had treated me. So I admit, it was unfair to her. But currently, she was the only one closest to me who I could actually project onto. And my emotions were stronger than logic.)

Nico immediately went back to sleep.

"You should get some rest," Hedge said, standing and holding his bat over one shoulder. He was looking at Reyna. "You barely have had a chance to sleep all day." Hedge turned his eyes to me. "You should get some sleep, too. I can take watch again."

Reyna let out a big breath, nodding. Then her head snapped to me. "As long as you actually go to sleep." She delivered it like a threat, like even if I didn't sleep she expected me to lay down and close my eyes.

I scowled at her.

"Why do you think I suggested it?" Hedge grunted. "You can't attack each other if you're both unconscious."

"Fine." I snapped, annoyed at Reyna's attitude. And just when I was starting to feel a tad bit better. Not about our relationship by any means, but just in general. I was glad we'd…kind of worked things through. Glad that she'd agreed to continue on with the quest. Camp Half-Blood, my family, was depending on her.

Reyna looked back at Hedge, her expression softening. I tried not to throw my arms up in exasperation. That wasn't the first time a Roman had done that to me.

"I'll put Aurum and Argentum on guard duty with you," she said, throwing another look in my direction.

"So long as they don't  _attack_  me again," I said coldly, glaring at her. Reyna ignored me and whistled sharply, and the dogs ran up to her. I tensed, my heartbeat spiking in my chest. Audrey II growled and stood at attention, head going back and forth between the two.

Hedge looked just as uncomfortable. "You  _sure_  those aren't Dalmatians? They look like Dalmatians." I guess for a completely different reason than mine.

"They're greyhounds, Coach." Reyna assured. "Aurum, Argentum, guard us while I sleep. Obey Gleeson Hedge." She threw a distasteful look at me. "And don't attack…her." My hands balled into fists, but Hedge coughed. My gaze snapped over to him and he shook his head.

I unslung my guitar from my back and had to force myself not to slam it into the wilted meadow, I was so angry. I did, however, throw my backpack loudly on the ground and laid down on it hard, making as much noise as possible, like a petulant child. There wasn't anything I could do besides that, because fighting her wasn't an option (not because I didn't think I couldn't take her, but because I was older than her and, to me, that just wasn't okay). Any biting words I could think of were lost in my anger. Besides, even if I did come up with a witty comeback, it wasn't like she would even be listening to me. There was just no way I was going to feel vindicated any way I looked at it, so all I could really do was stew in my rage.

The only good thing was the fact that her dogs had went outside the perimeter Hedge had set up to patrol, and not just a small perimeter around us and the statue. With them farther out, it was easier for me to calm myself down.

Eventually, with Audrey II curled up near my stomach, and the soothing, rhythmic movement of stroking my guitar, I managed to fall asleep. I mean, I don't know how much good of a thing that was, considering my nightmares, but you know. What was a girl to do?

We were in Albania for another whole day before Nico woke up again. It only took a few seconds for everyone to prepare for the next jump. It seemed awful that Nico had only just woken up, eaten something that was way below what he  _should_  be eating based on his age  _and_  the fact that he was using a lot of his powers, just to make another jump and exhaust himself again. (At least he had gotten to sleep for two days, but still. He was just going to immediately use up all that energy his body had stored.) But…I suppose that was the life of a demigod.

* * *

At first, I was confused. When we came out of the darkness, we were definitely not on solid ground. We seemed to be floating…

No.

No, falling was a much better word. Falling right into the mouth of what looked to be a volcano, just to ice the cake.

"Nico!" Reyna shouted, reaching out and grabbing his wrist before reaching for Hedge.

"Pan's pipes!" Hedge shouted, reaching up to grab his baseball cap which was threatening to fly off.

Nico simply screamed, eyes wide, and Reyna nearly lost her grip and he started. My rope had slipped from my hand, probably due to my distraction at pushing away memories of Tartarus in such a dark place. I called it back to my hand and gripped it tightly, now extremely glad I had that rune burned onto my wrist. Audrey II was tucked in my arm, to my chest, like a football.

A shadow fell over us and I grimaced as I glanced up, remembering we had a giant statue trailing behind us. I guess it was a good thing that it was hollow and pretty lightweight. But it wasn't like it was going to matter because the magma in the volcano would probably make us spontaneously combust before the statue could crush us.

"That's Vesuvius below us!" Reyna shouted over the winds as we kept falling. Frankly, it didn't really matter what it was called if we were going to be dead in a few minutes. "Nico, teleport us out of here!"

Even from where I was, I could see that Nico was drained. "I-I can't! No strength!"

Hedge bleated nervously. "News flash, kid! Goats can't fly! Zap us out of here or we're gonna get flattened into an Athena Parthenos omelette!"

Even if we missed the volcano, the impact with the earth would most definitely be doing the flattening before the statue could.

Reyna's expression turned contemplative, and I wondered what magic she had up her sleeve that could save us.

"Nico, shadow-travel," she said. "I'll lend you my strength."

Nico didn't seem to understand. "How—?"

" _Do it!_ "

I watched in wonder as the torch-and-sword symbol on Reyna's forearm started to glow, just like the rune on my wrist.

Nico gasped and the color returned to his face. We were seconds from being thrown into a plume of steam when we fell into another shadow. I forced air in and out of my lungs. I liked shadow-travel even less now because of my time in Tartarus. (I didn't know how Nico did it, honestly.) My prickles were working their way up into a tizzy, but I forced them down just as I felt my feet hit solid ground. Audrey II wriggled free of my arm and I let her explore the new landscape.

The sun was just coming up, and funnily enough, when its golden rays hit me I felt my heart settle a little more. Around us columns lined a sort of courtyard-like area the size of a baseball diamond. To my left was a bronze satyr, standing in the middle of a sunken fountain that was adorned with mosaic tile.

Nearby was a small garden, blooming with all sorts of flowers, the only one I recognized being the roses. I felt a pang hit my chest, thinking about Nick and his bouquet of roses he'd given me, their dried-out state in the Apollo cabin. I wondered if he was still doing magic tricks to help the kids take their minds off of…

There were cobblestones covering the rest of the area, paths leading away from the courtyard in several different directions. Outside of the courtyard were low stone houses with porches that had colonnades.

To my right was the Athena Parthenos, dominating the tiny courtyard. In the distance, I could still see Mount Vesuvius. Now that it'd blown its top, quite spectacularly, it had lost quite a lot of height. Steam still curled from the top.

"We're in Pompeii," Reyna said, jolting me. I hoped another giant wasn't waiting for me somewhere. That would've just been cruel.

"Oh, that's not good." Nico said just as his knees buckled.

"Whoa!" Hedge caught him before I could get to him. He moved NIco to sit against the statue, and loosened the harness that Nico wore so he could transport the statue.

I went over to sit next to Nico and heard a thump. I looked over, my hand going to my sword automatically, but only saw Reyna had also collapsed. She was on her knees now, hunched over, shoulders heaving. I frowned, wondering what that was about. A small part of me of wanted to go over and ask if she was okay, but she probably wouldn't appreciate it, so I squashed that urge.

Hedge was rummaging in his backpack again. The stones around Nico's feet cracked and dark rays shot out, making me jump. They contrasted with the sunlight, like scars being thrown into relief.

Reyna had recovered by then. "Drink something." She held out her canteen of, what I assumed was, unicorn draught. Nico took is gratefully. He still looked like…well, death afterward, but there were no skeletons, so that was a good sign.

"How did you do that…that surge of energy?" Nico asked. Reyna lifted her forearm and rubbed her tattoo, like it ached.

"I don't like to talk about it," she said, her eyes flickering over to me. I stared back. She looked back at Nico, ignoring me. "It's a power from my mother. I can impart strength to others."

Hedge looked up from what he was doing, eyes blazing, a grin on his face. "Seriously? Why haven't you hooked me up, Roman girl? I want super-muscles!"

Reyna didn't seem to find that funny. Though, I don't think Hedge was making a joke. "It doesn't work like that, Coach. I can only do it in life-and-death situations, and it's more useful in groups. When I command troops, I can share whatever attributes I have—strength, courage, endurance—multiplied by the size of my forces."

Nico's eyebrow rose. "Useful for a Roman praetor."

Reyna didn't like that. Her expression didn't change, but the look in her eyes did. They looked almost pained, but that was quickly hidden.

It was an interesting power, and definitely useful in battle. I wondered why she'd reacted like that, though.

"Too bad," Hedge grunted, going back to his backpack. "Super-muscles would be nice."

Nico took another drink from the canteen. His eyes drooped, but he fought to keep them open.

"You stumbled just now," he said, his words slurring slightly. I wanted to scold him to just go to sleep, but it was obvious this was bothering him if he was forcing himself to stay awake. "When you use your power…do you get some sort of, um, feedback from me?"

"It's not mind-reading," she answered. "Not even an empathy link. Just…a temporary wave of exhaustion. Primal emotions. Your pain washes over me. I take on some of your burden."

Nico lowered the canteen, setting it aside and started twisting his skull ring. Even though the draught helped, I felt the air around us cool. His eyes became guarded and he frowned. I slowly reached out for his hands. Nico stopped his fidgeting and looked over at me. I brushed my fingers against the back of his hand and he opened it up for me to take. I gave it a gentle squeeze and smiled at him, hoping it was reassuring.

It seemed to do the trick. The coldness lessoned and Nico's tense shoulders relaxed. He managed a small smile back.

I couldn't resist the urge to reach up with my other hand and ruffle his hair. Nico, of course, made a noise of protest and swatted my hand away, letting go of my other hand. I laughed as he scowled and crossed his arms, his big aviator jacket enveloping him and making him look more like an adorable, grumpy child.

"You should rest," Reyna chimed. My own shoulders tensed when I realized she'd been watching that whole exchange. Well…maybe it would show her that I wasn't this horrible traitor that she thought I was. Reyna continued, "After two jumps in a row, even with a little help…you're lucky to be alive. We'll need you to be ready again by nightfall."

Nico let his arm fall and straightened up, clenching is jaw, and nodded. "We're stuck here now. But Pompeii is the  _last_  place I would've chosen to land. This place is full of  _lemures_."

"Lemurs?" Hedge repeated. He was making another alarm system, it seemed. "You mean those cute fuzzy critters—"

" _No_." Nico grumbled in annoyance. " _Lemures._  Unfriendly ghosts. All Roman cities have them, but in Pompeii—"

"The whole city was wiped out," Reyna provided. "In 79 C.E., Vesuvius erupted and covered the town in ash."

Nico nodded. "A tragedy like that creates a  _lot_  of angry spirits."

Hedge looked up from his work, into the distance, at the volcano. "It's steaming. Is that a bad sign?"

"I…I'm not sure." Nico started picking at a hole in his jeans. "Mountain gods, the  _ourae_ , can sense children of Hades. It's possible that's why we were pulled off course. The spirit of Vesuvius might have been intentionally trying to kill us. But I doubt the mountain can hurt us this far away. Working up to a full eruption would take too long. The immediate threat is all around us."

Chills flew down my spine, followed by a burst of prickles, and I tensed again, scanning the courtyard. I didn't expect to find anything, but it was still unnerving. I didn't like things that I couldn't cut down with my sword, or shoot with my arrows.

I whistled and Audrey II flew back to me, and I pulled her close, her familiar warmth and rumbling comforting. It also helped my growing pin-pricks, which I really needed to take pain meds for soon.

"Can you keep them at bay?" Reyna asked. I glanced and saw how tense she was, too.

Nico shrugged. "I've sent out the message:  _Stay away_. But once I'm asleep it won't do us much good."

Hedge patted his contraption that had a tennis racket and knife as some of its working parts. "Don't worry, kid."  _Oh, sure_ , he gets "kid" and I get "cupcake." Hedge continued, "I'm going to line the perimeter with alarms and snares. Plus, I'll be watching over you the whole time with my baseball bat."

"Okay, but…go easy." Nico slurred, his eyes drooping. "We don't want another Albania."

"No." Reyna agreed, glancing at me. It didn't feel accusatory, but I was still offended she'd looked at me. She wasn't even referring to what'd happened with me and her dogs. (Okay, so maybe I kept a few things secret.)

"Fine, whatever," Hedge grumbled, readjusting his baseball cap. "Just rest, kid. We got you covered."

"All right." Nico pulled off his aviator jacket. "Maybe just a little…" He trailed off as he wadded up his jacket into a pillow and fell onto it, immediately beginning to snore. I stretched my arms and legs, but kept sitting, with Audrey II still in my lap.

I used this time to take some pain meds and drink some water. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, so I'd post-pone that for now. I had been planning on leaning back and maybe playing my guitar a little, but Hedge's voice broke me from my musings.

"Hey." He wasn't talking to me, though, he was looking at Reyna who looked lost in thought, her gaze on Nico. "You need to sleep, too." He looked at me. "You, too, cupcake." I wanted to protest, to both his insistence on that ridiculous nickname and sleep, but he was already talking again. "I'll take first watch and cook some grub. Those ghosts shouldn't be too dangerous now that the sun's coming up."

I hummed in agreement, feeling as it rose in the sky.

"I've read about this place," Reyna said instead. "It's one of the best-preserved villas in Pompeii. They call it the House of the Faun."

Hedge made a face at the statue in the fountain. "Yeah, well, today it's the House of the  _Satyr_."

Reyna smiled at him. I wish she would smile at me like that. As if reading my mind, she then looked at me, her smile dropping.

"And you'll be sleeping as well?" she asked, even though she'd heard Hedge tell me that I should probably take some time to rest.

" _Yes_." I groused. This was going to be a long quest. Though, I was waiting for Gaea to make her move, somehow get me away from these three. The prophecy had stated I be here, but why, if Gaea needed me in Athens?

Reyna whistled for her dogs again, and I tensed. I waited until I knew where they were going to be patrolling—thankfully far out, around the entire courtyard this time. Then I laid down, back facing Reyna. I heard her shift and assumed she'd lied down, too.

I thought it would take me longer to fall asleep, but nearly falling to your death took a lot out of you.

I was so used to being in Tartarus as soon as I fell asleep, so when I opened my eyes again and found myself in the Apollo cabin, I was confused. And suspicious.

I approached one of the bunks and stroked the duvet. A breeze blew through the cabin and I spun around to see Gaea in her dirt robes, a thin dirt veil still covering her sleeping, smiling face.

"You've got to at least tell me how I'm going to get away from these three," I said. "I know it's all 'need-to-know,' but in this case, I think I need to know."

"Taking you away from them too soon would raise suspicion, would it not?" she asked, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That didn't answer my question." I should've known working with gods would be hard. Getting any straightforward information from them was like pulling teeth. I wondered vaguely if Luke had any of this trouble working with Kronos, if he asked for more information than Kronos was willing to give.

"Not now. Not in Pompeii," Gaea finally said. I blinked and focused back on her. Was it just me, or did it sound like she was making some kind of joke? "I have a surprise for you that will convincingly get you away from your little… _friends_. Before you make your jump across the ocean. That's all you  _need to know_."

I rolled my eyes. Well, at least I had a rough timeline. I opened my mouth to ask another question when the door to the Apollo cabin burst open and Nico stepped through. I froze, my mouth dropping.

 _How did he get here?_  He could dream-walk?

Nico wasn't expecting what he saw, either. His brown eyes were huge, and his jaw had also dropped. He forced himself out of it, his eyes narrowing and going from Gaea to me.

" _Tori._ "

I took in a breath, holding my hands up in a pacifying gesture. "I can explain." I risked a glance at Gaea, but she had disappeared. When I looked back at Nico, he was approaching me so fast, I didn't have time to react. I could only tense and flinch as he reached out. He grabbed my arm in a tight grip and dragged me toward the entrance to the Apollo cabin.

As we stepped through, however, we entered a dark area, kind of like when we shadow-traveled. There were pockets of other dreams, voices shouted out into the darkness, like we were walking through some limbo-like hallway with doorways leading to people's dreams. It was weirder and more uncomfortable than shadow-travel, honestly.

I followed blindly along, Nico's grip never loosening. It was sure to bruise. Could I get bruises in dreams? It felt real enough.

How was I going to explain this to him? I couldn't tell him. Gaea would not doubt be listening and then everything I'd worked for would be ruined. But he had me trapped—it wasn't like I could get away from him in this weird dreamscape so easily. Besides, it was obvious he knew how to navigate this place much better than I. It would also just cause more problems. Nico was confirming Reyna's suspicions. If Reyna knew, if Nico told her, there was no way I would be leaving Pompeii alive.

We stumbled into a small street that was lined with stalls of food, clothes, musical instruments—anything you could think of really. They glowed from within under the midnight sky. People milled around, speaking a language I couldn't understand, but recognized. They went in and out of stalls, laughter echoed down the cobble-stoned alleyway that gently curved around a corner and disappeared. It was warm and the air buzzed with bugs. Somewhere, instrumental music was playing from one of the stalls.

"China?" I asked, pulling my drifting eyes from the warm lights, colorful stalls, and milling people to Nico.

"I accidentally shadow-traveled to China a lot when I was practicing," he explained. "This was one of my favorite places."

Laughter broke out from a group of friends coming out of a stall selling hand-made leather items and I couldn't help but smile myself.

"I can see why," I murmured. If only life was so easy. I suppose I wouldn't mind shadow-travel if I could come here to get away from it all.

Nico took hold of my arm again and we started down the alley. "Come on." We weaved through people who had bags of things they'd purchased. Some had food in their hands that smelled amazing, making my stomach rumble.

Nico's hand tightened on my arm. "So are you going to tell me what I just saw? Or do I have to pull it out of you." His voice was low, and he was scanning the people passing like he was afraid one of them was going to mug him. Even though this was a dream.

I stopped walking, forcing Nico to stop as well. I met his eyes and said, "I can't tell you." Then I flickered my eyes to my free hand, which was miming writing on a piece of paper.

Nico didn't get the hint. He let go of my arm, eyes darkening. "Why not?" he demanded.

I waited until he met my eyes again. "I said, I can't  _tell_  you." Then I flickered my eyes to my hand again, back up to Nico's eyes, then down to my hand until he got it. Still frowning, he grabbed my wrist again.

We weaved through the people at a faster pace this time. He was searching for something specific. When we came to a stall that had an open floorplan, with their merchandise on shelves, against the walls, we went inside. Without hesitating, he went straight up to the desk where you paid. He waved at the woman behind it and she smiled before turning and going through a door a few feet behind her.

Nico let go of my wrist reached behind the desk pulling a piece of receipt paper and a pen from the ether. I suppose, since it was a dream, he could do that. It was still weird because everything felt very real.

"You're being stubborn," he said, sliding the paper and pen over to me.

I gave him a look before carefully picking up the pen and began writing. "It's better you don't know." I said.

Nico scoffed. "You can say that to Reyna, but we've known each other longer. We've been through hell together. I thought you'd trust me by now."

I shook my head as I continued writing. "It's not that I don't trust you. I'm…protecting you. And now I'm asking you to trust me enough to let it drop."

Nico was quiet for long enough that I paused in writing and looked over at him with a silent question. He looked conflicted. I nodded, prompting him to keep talking. I didn't want a pause of silence to last too long or it might seem suspicious. Nico looked away and I went back to writing.

"Is that…is that what Luke told you?" he asked in a quiet voice. My hand froze and the little store around us flickered. My pin-pricks burst. Nico turned and rested his hand on my arm. I looked over at him, my chest starting to heave.  _I'm sorry_ , he mouthed.

I blinked back my tears and tried to get my breathing and prickles under control. I forced my hand to continue writing, but my hand was shaking now. "I guess…I'm just destined to follow in his footsteps."

Nico's hand squeezed my arm gently and I slowly looked over at him. "You don't have to." His voice was soft (too soft), but I got his secret meaning.

 _Thank you_ , I mouthed before turning back to finish writing. I handed the receipt paper to him, keeping hold of the pen and flicking it against my thigh. "I'm afraid I don't have a choice. The Fates decide that, don't they?" I said as Nico began reading what I'd written.

I'm not sure if it was because we'd become so comfortable around each other or what, but Nico was quite expressive. I could tell exactly where he was in my plan by the look on his face. When he got to the end, his hands curled into fists and his eyebrows smashed together.

"So, I guess you know now that I'm…helping Gaea," I said before he could say anything that seemed unprompted. "What will you do now?"

Nico took in a deep breath, but it did nothing to help his growing anger. He began pacing, the paper now crumpled in his fist. His breathing became heavy and ragged. He ran his hand through his hair and looked at me several times as if he'd finally found how he was going to start, then changed his mind.

"Why do you  _always_  insist on…doing things by yourself?" he finally asked, stopping to face me.

I got defensive, my hands furling into fists at my side. "Well, she's not exactly recruiting other demigods."

"That's not what I meant," he snapped.

"I  _know_."

Nico looked at me sharply. "You don't have to do this alone."

"If you think I'm going to let you take on another task, then you're mistaken." I unconsciously took a step toward him. "You already have enough on your plate."

Nico sneered. "I've been through more, lest you forget. Besides, we're demigods, what did you expect? That's  _just_  how it is, okay?"

"But it doesn't  _have_  to be that way!" I burst, startling Nico so much he took a step back. " _The gods_  should  _know_  better!  _Adults_  should  _know_  better!" I felt the familiar sting of tears and a lump starting to form in my throat. I blinked rapidly and swallowed hard to dispel them. My heart was beating erratically in my chest. Even in this dream, my pin-pricks began to get worse.

Nico's own eyes looked shinier. "You're barely an adult, Tori," he said quietly. "You don't deserve that pressure, either."

"Right now, I'm the only adult who has even the slightest change to help you and the Seven, whatever it takes. Whatever the cost." I said carefully so I wouldn't start crying. Indignation filled my chest. Not at Nico, but at the gods, at the other adult demigods who could be helping their younger siblings, relatives—whatever—and weren't. "And if that is how it has to be, then so be it." Nico frowned. I continued. "You're Will's age now. And you've already done enough for those sorry excuses of our godly parents. I'm not going to let you take on more."

Nico's eyes were big, making him seem younger than he was (even though he was as tall as me).

"You consider me…a younger brother?" he asked. Before I could answer, he said, "Even though…what? Apollo is like Zeus's third child, right? And Zeus is my uncle. So you'd technically be my…third cousin, once removed?"

I rolled my eyes, but grinned at him. "You nerd." I intoned.

Nico grinned back and I saw the child that I thought he'd lost after Bianca had died for a split second. All the more reason to keep him out of this.

"So," I started. "I guess…it's time to go?" I couldn't mask the fear in my voice. I wasn't keen on returning to Tartarus, and if Nico could keep me out of that horrid place for one night, that would be enough.

Nico shook his head. "We can stay here if you'd like. Or I can take you to another one of my favorite spots. You'll probably wake up sooner than me, though."

I looked at him skeptically, but cautiously optimistic. "That won't drain you more?"

"Not any more than being by myself would."

I didn't quite believe him, but I was also feeling a little selfish because I  _did not_  want to be pulled down in Tartarus again. I wanted to wake up feeling somewhat rested  _for once_  in my sorry life. And if he was offering…

"For a little bit," I decided, perhaps a bit impulsively. "But I mean it Nico, if this is only going to hurt you more, you're sending me back, okay?" I held out my hand.

"It's a deal." He took my hand and we shook. Then he did something unexpected—pulled me into a hug. "Thank you," he mumbled into my neck. I carefully put my arms around him resisting the urge to squeeze him tightly to me.

"Of course."

* * *

For once, in a long time, I woke up naturally. It'd been so long, I'd forgotten what it felt like. Of course, I still had to take a moment to push away my chronic pain, but this time I didn't have to worry about also calming my heart or the fear coursing through my veins from being in Tartarus again.

The sun had risen high in the sky by now, and was shining down on us. And the tourists who now flooded the surrounding area. I didn't like so many people around. I was afraid monsters would disguise themselves and try to get close. Although, the Athena Parthenos seemed to be doing a pretty good job at keeping monsters at bay. Even though I was Greek, because we were standing in the middle of a Roman city, it radiated and angry aura that made my skin feel itchy.

The Mist did the rest, keeping the tourists from coming any near us or the statue.

Hedge was roasting what looked to be blueberry waffles over a small, open fire. I  _was_  hungry, but I wondered if I'd be able to keep anything down. One good rest wasn't going to make up for all the other hours I'd lost already. I excused myself to the bathroom to freshen up quickly before getting back just as Hedge was finished with the waffles and was topping them off with what looked to be fresh kiwi and pineapple. I took some pain meds before taking the plate Hedge offered me.

Reyna chatted with Hedge, but I leaned back up against the statue and simply listened to the sound of the tourists, soaked up the sun. I managed to get half the waffle and all the fruit down before my stomach started to rebel. Audrey II dozed at my side, her head resting on my thigh. Her eyes kept flickering around at all the tourists. I think she liked their cameras. She seemed unconcerned about Reyna's dogs, now that she was sure they weren't going to hurt me (though, I'm sure if they tried to come closer that would rile her up).

When I was finished, I pulled my guitar into my lap and began to idly play. I, somehow, got lost in the music. I don't know how much time had passed, but I finally realized that Reyna was staring at me and Hedge had gone to sleep. I was surprised that he trusted us enough to be on our own, but he also needed rest, so maybe he'd been so exhausted he didn't care. Didn't blame him, really.

"What?" I asked, stopping my playing.

"Whenever you play, the birds stop singing, and the wind dies down," she said. "The tourists even slow and listen, trying to figure out where the music is coming from. That happened back in Epirus, too—the cicadas stopped chirping." I waited to see if she was going to ask a question, biting my tongue on a rude comment. "Do all the kids of Apollo have that gift?"

I continued to pluck at my guitar, feeling awkward having a civil discussion with Reyna. She wasn't even glaring at me like she usually did, too intrigued, perhaps.

"Yes and no," I finally said. "Yes, in that, my siblings could command a room with their music, but it would only last so long before they become drained. I'm not using any powers from my godly side, and I know this because I'm never exhausted, no matter how much I may sing or play an instrument." Chiron and I had tested this at length, to make absolutely sure I wasn't using any of my powers.

Reyna studied me. "Like Orpheus?" It wasn't really a question, but I nodded mutely, tensing. I didn't like where this was going. I felt my pin-pricks spike and I stopped playing. "So the prophecy…?"

"Doesn't really matter, does it? It seemed quite clear." I interrupted, not wanting her to say it out loud.

Reyna frowned at my tone, but didn't respond with some biting comment, like I thought she might. Instead, she turned away to occupy herself with something else. I let out a quiet breath and continued playing my guitar again.

Harpies and wind spirits flew overhead, and I swear some of the harpies looked at me with acknowledgement. I got a strange feeling that they recognized me. Then I remembered Gaea had been spreading rumors about me among the monsters— _Seirína_. I really hated that nickname. I also hated how it affected my interaction with monsters.

On the ground, ghosts gathered around the courtyard. Like the monsters, however, the statue's aura seemed to keep them at bay. I wasn't sure how long that'd last once night fell, but hopefully we'd be out of here before we had to find out.

Nico woke once the sun had officially set. I roused Hedge, who gave Nico something to eat.

The ghosts were closing in now. And was it me or had they multiplied in numbers? It was setting my nerves on edge. I felt myself bristle, ready for a fight. My chronic pain burst before steadily rising. I had to stand up and began pacing, my bow spiraling out in response to my agitation. I watched the ghosts, looking for signs that they might charge us. I wasn't sure what they could do as ghosts, but I wasn't about to take chances.

Reyna seemed just as agitated, recalling her dream quickly—the destruction of Camp Jupiter, Octavian surrounding CHB (which only did to exacerbate everything else, on top of feeling irrationally angry at Reyna), and finally a hunter with glowing eyes, who apparently used a bow.

Nico didn't look up from his plate. "This hunter…a giant, maybe?"

Hedge grunted. "I'd rather not find out. I say we keep moving."

Nico snorted quietly. " _You_  are suggesting we avoid a fight?"

"Listen, cupcake, I like a smackdown as much as the next guy, but we've got enough monsters to worry about without some bounty-hunter giant tracking us across the world. I don't like the sound of those huge arrows."

I froze as Hedge finished his sentence, remembering the last time I was in Pompeii—attacked by Astarius, the Bane of Apollo. Could that be who was after us? Gaea had said she had a surprise waiting for me.

Ugh, I really didn't like the sound of that. I didn't want to take him on again. Despite my growing powers, I'd barely managed to defeat him, and it'd taken nearly everything I had. Not to mention, a god had to show up to finish the job.

"For once," Reyna said, breaking me from my thoughts. "I agree with Hedge."

Nico unfolded his aviator jacket thoughtfully, putting his finger through an arrow hole in the sleeve. I wanted to yell at him we didn't have time for contemplation. We best travel now and worry about this later, because these ghosts were getting more agitated.  _Wanted to_ , but I had a feeling none of them would appreciate it. Besides, it was still light. (It was fading quickly now the sun had sent, though.)

"I could ask for advice." Nico's voice was hesitant. I didn't blame him. He hadn't had the best memories of the Hunters of Artemis. "Thalia Grace…"

"Jason's sister." Reyna nodded.

"The Hunters of Artemis are…well,  _hunters_. If anybody knew about this giant hunter guy, Thalia would." Gaea would know, too, but she didn't think that was something I needed to know. Typical god-like behavior. "I could try sending her an Iris-message."

"You don't sound very excited about the idea," Reyna said. "Are you two…on bad terms?"

"We're fine."

The gold dog, Aurum, snarled. I tensed, ready to jump in front of Nico again if he decided to attack. Thankfully, he left it at a snarl.

Reyna didn't press on Nico's lie, which I was mildly irritated about, but I didn't want Nico to have to re-live his sister's death.

"I should also try to contact my sister, Hylla," Reyna said, instead. "Camp Jupiter is lightly defended. If Gaea attacks there, perhaps the Amazons could help."

Hedge scowled, crossing his arms. "No offence, but, uh…what's an army of Amazons going to do against a wave of dirt?"

Reyna didn't answer, and I could see the fear in her eyes.

I went back to scanning the courtyard. More ghosts had shown up and now basically surrounded us. They held glowing clubs and stones in their hands.

We were rapidly running out of daylight, and time.

"Why don't we talk more about this later," I finally said, itching to leave. "We should really be getting out of here. Like,  _now_."

"Yeah." Nico agreed, standing. "I think we can reach Spain this time if we're lucky. Just let me—"

The ghosts vanished, like candlelight in a gust of wind.

I reached for an arrow and knocked it. I already had Audrey II's leash tied around my wrist so she couldn't go far, and she'd be attached to me when we made the jump.  _If_  we made the jump. However, she was flying around me, growling and roaring, also agitated.

"Where did they go?" Reyna asked, her hand at her dagger.

Nico looked out at the ruins, but looked terribly uncertain. A rock started forming in the pit of my stomach. What was Gaea playing at? I wasn't supposed to go with her now, but it almost seemed like she was attacking us.

"I-I'm not sure, but I don't think it's a good sign," Nico finally answered. "Keep a lookout. I'll get harnessed up. Should only take a few seconds."

Hedge rose to his hooves, and I jumped, automatically aiming my bow and arrow at him just as he began to speak in a voice I recognized too well, " _A few seconds you do not have._ " His eyes were solid black.

Reyna drew her knife, and Hedge turned toward her. " _Be glad, Reyna_ _Ramírez-Arellano. You will die as a Roman. You will join the ghosts of Pompeii._ "

The ground began to shake. Spirals of ash swirled in the air, like Gaea often did in my dreams. Then they solidified into crude human-like figures. They all stared at Reyna, but I could see that they only had ragged holes for eyes in their, otherwise, blank faces of rock. It was so uncanny valley, I wanted to run, screaming in the other direction. At the same time, my legs felt frozen to the spot.

" _The earth with swallow you,_ " Gaea continued, still using Hedge. " _Just as it swallowed them._ "

I took a moment to knock three arrows and went for headshots just as Reyna said, "There are too many of them." The three I'd hit crumbled easier than I thought they would, but at least I knew they were extremely fragile.

Then some of the earthen creatures turned toward me, since I'd just collapsed three others and my heart sank—they moved slow, like they weighed a ton, and as their feet met the ground, the cobble stones cracked. Okay, so they were fragile, but clearly they had mass. I guess it was a good thing I had a long-range weapon.

Gaea continued to speak through Hedge, " _The dead always outnumber the living. These spirits have waited centuries, unable to express their anger. Now I have given them bodies of earth._ "

A different ghost stepped toward Reyna, who reflexively stepped back. I kept shooting down as many as I could, but just as many appeared in tornadoes of ash.

An image of the Williamsburg Bridge flashed before my eyes—the never-ending line of  _dracaenae_ , shooting down one only replaced it with another. I felt my aim wobble and my heart stutter. I blinked hard, trying to gain control of my emotions, and push away my growing prickles. I couldn't afford to lose focus now!

"Nico?" Reyna called, snapping me out of my flashback. Audrey II was blowing fire at the ghosts who'd started to surround me, but it only made them hesitate. I think. It was hard to tell when they only had black holes for eyes, and no other facial features.

"I can't control them," Nico replied, frantically working at his tangled harness. "Something about the rock shells, I guess. I need a couple of seconds to concentrate on making the shadow-jump. Otherwise I might teleport us into another volcano."

I ran out of arrows fast. Cursing, I let my bow spiral back into a ring and unsheathed my sword.

"Use the scepter," Reyna instructed. "Get me some zombies."

Looking around at all the ghosts, that might've leveled the playing field, but the zombies were  _more_  fragile than these ghosts. I didn't know how long our "advantage" would last.

" _It will not help,_ " Gaea spoke. " _Stand aside, Praetor. Let the ghosts of Pompeii destroy this Greek statue. A true Roman would not resist._ "

As if that was a secret command, the ghosts started forward. The ones in front of Reyna began pressing her back toward the statue. With a chill, I realized the ones in front of me were pushing me away from the group.

I thought Gaea had said she wasn't coming for me here!

As I tried to formulate a plan to get back to the statue, mouth holes appeared on the earthen ghosts' faces, just as deep and black as their eye holes. They emitted whistling noises, like someone continuously blowing air over a half-empty soda bottle.

Nico began speaking to Reyna again, but I had to really focus on getting back to them, which meant no distractions. Which also meant I was fighting against my chronic pain as well as my flashbacks, not just these ghosts. So I needed all the energy I could get.

As a test, I stepped in, stabbing one of the ghosts closest to me in the stomach. It easily crumbled and collapsed. I spun out of the rests' reach, just as an arm came swinging in my direction.

Okay, so I knew they were slow. I was out of arrows. But I was small, which meant I could move much faster. I sheathed my sword and unsheathed my dagger. This may not have been the best plan, but if I was  _too_  close, they'd have trouble hitting me. I hoped.

I untied the leash from my wrist. "Go to the others," I instructed. Audrey II squawked in protest. I opened my mouth to argue, but she squawked again and I looked in front of me just in time to see a ghostly, earthen arm flying at me. I leaned down and away from the arm, following the direction it was going, feeling the air move above my head, its arm mere centimeters away.

I came up and slashed it across the chest. It crumble.

" _Go!_ " I instructed again, tucking and rolling to avoid another fist. "I'll be fine."

I couldn't wait around to see if Audrey II had really listened to me. I just hoped when it was time to shadow-travel, she would be there. Even so, I'm sure she'd be able to find me again if, for some reason, I couldn't get to her. I just hoped that wouldn't be the outcome.

I threw my dagger into another ghosts head. It crumbled. I summoned my dagger back to my hand.

It wasn't after about the 15 one I'd managed to dust, did I realize there really  _were_  too many of them. I was winded from all the dodging and weaving I'd done. I'd gotten closer, but was facing a wall of ghosts, slowly closing in the statue. The scepter was gone from Nico's hand, and Reyna looked just as winded as I was. She looked frazzled and desperate. She'd probably been using her powers from Bellona to keep the dead Romans upright for as long as possible.

Some of my anger toward her dissipated, as I watched her. She was only a kid. Just like the others.

I stepped forward, stabbing one in the back of the head. I used the pocket I'd created to step inside their line, ducking under the fist of one ghost before stabbing it in the chest. I dodged another fist, then sliced off its arm.

"For Rome!" Reyna cried a few feet away from me. Her voice was hoarse. Still, she slashed her sword through one of the ghosts and lunged forward to stab another in its chest. "Twelfth Legion Fulminata!"

The zombies that protected the statue collapsed, almost all at once. The ghosts had moved closer. Some of them crushed the skeleton warriors, the others just collapsed, most likely due to the fact that the scepter's power was no longer in effect.

"Reyna! Tori! Now!" Nico yelled from behind me. "We're leaving!"

I ducked and slashed through another ghosts arm before risking a glance at Nico. He was harnessed up, holding and unconscious Hedge in his arms. Audrey II was with him, to my relief.

Reyna moved just as one of the ghosts did, and my eyes flickered to her. She stumbled, worn and tired.

I leaped forward, pulling her toward Nico while spinning her, so that I was between her and the ghost, just as its fist hit its mark. It was just a glancing blow, but I felt some of my ribs give. Now, I'd broken ribs before, but you never get used to that kind of pain.

I gasped, and my knees buckled. My vision swam, and every breath felt like razors in my lungs. I coughed and blood coated my lips. I fought against the flashback of the arena in the Labyrinth—a place where I'd broken my ribs the first time, from a giant's spear.

"Tori!" I heard Nico shout, but he sounded…so far away.

I struggled to lift my head and blink away my blurry vision. The Athena Parthenos was flickering. I started to try and stand. As I did, Reyna swung her dagger over me and I felt what I thought were bits of rock rain down on my head. Then she was there, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet. I gripped her forearm and tried to get my feet to work, though they felt like lead.

Nico threw out his hand just as he slipped into the shadows.

I felt a surge of energy rush through me—maybe out of desperation, maybe out of anger, maybe both—and I used the strength to leap forward, pushing Reyna forward, hoping she managed to grab Nico's hand before he'd completely disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had wanted to fit more, but this is getting pretty long, so I'll leave it here.
> 
> Felt a bit uneventful to me, just because it's a bit of rehash of what you've read, so I'll hope you'll bear with me a while longer on that front. Though, I did include a fair amount of my own stuff.
> 
> I do hope you'll forgive me for finding a loophole in revealing Tori's plan…I want to keep it a secret for as long as I can. I just hope it'll live up to expectations…do me a favor and don't get too hyped up about it, yeah? (I'm mostly joking.) Although, if you read the scene carefully, there are clues…
> 
> The next chapter will have a bit more from BOO, and then we'll get into the real juicy bits (in other words, Gaea's awakening in Athens). Hold onto your hats, because we're hitting the last handful of turbulent chapters of the story!
> 
> Not much else by way of notes. Sorry this chapter took longer than I anticipated, just personal shit (see also: depression). But, as always, I thank you immensely for sticking with me to the end (of the line).
> 
> The chapter title comes from a spoken word poem by Sarah Kay. I'm unsure if it has an official title, but I know it as, "If I should have a daughter." She performs it right before she gives a TedTalk. I recommend watching the entire TedTalk, but there are videos of just her poem. I really recommend the poem, if nothing else.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are very much appreciated! ^_^
> 
> Thank you for reading,  
> TheBrightestNight

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Look Alike](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9119404) by [lucifersfavoritechild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucifersfavoritechild/pseuds/lucifersfavoritechild)
  * [Djinn Dreams](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10524030) by [lucifersfavoritechild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucifersfavoritechild/pseuds/lucifersfavoritechild)




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